NPU: Welcome to the Sea of Monsters
by Uzumaki Crossover
Summary: The second book of my series. Now with Thalia in trouble, Naruto joins Clarisse on her quest to find a cure to the poison that is tormenting the Daughter of Zeus. Will they succeed or fall to the challenges that await them.
1. The Poison and the Dream

**NPU: Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 1**

**Let's see how long this lasts. I am saying this because I have until September to find a job, or I won't be doing this anymore, as in, m computer and all other electronic devices will be taken away….let's make this count! **

Naruto grunted as he took his hand away from Thalia's Tree. Things had gone downhill fast because Thalia's Tree had been poisoned. He did his best to relieve her pain by taking the poison into himself and still it was not working.

At first, a lot of people began to blame him for poisoning the tree, but there were a few that stood by his side, believing that he indeed did not do that. His whole Aphrodite cabin, Clarisse and a few from Ares cabin, Chiron, Mr. D, and Charles Beckendorf all believed in him because they were his closest friends. The others decided not to talk to him because they believe it was him who did it because Chiron identified the poison as on old poison from Hades.

When he asked his dad about it, Hades informed him that he has not made that particular poison in a long time because it was old and the ingredients for it had become rare. That brought a few more to Naruto's side, but he was still under suspicion.

As Naruto was walking down the hill, he passed Clarisse, but before she could speak, the blond suddenly fell to his knees and clutched his chest. "Naruto!" she shouted as she rushed to his side. "This has got to stop."

"I can't. This poison is from Hades and it is my responsibility to help Thalia through this pain." Naruto said in pain.

Clarisse looked at the blond with a sad smile. She admired the blond because of his selflessness and his fighting skills. She really liked the guy, not that she would ever admit it. "I figured that but if you keep this up, you're going to die!"

"Heh, you should know by now that I would die for my friends." Naruto said with a serious expression.

"Ok whatever, let's go to the big house. Chiron said he needs to speak with you." Clarisse said. Naruto nodded before Clarisse supported him down the hill to the Big House.

XXX

"Ok, I got the knuckle head!" Clarisse shouted once she and the blond where there.

"Yes I see that." Chiron said with a chuckle. He was in his wheel chair since it was hard to maneuver in his centaur form while in the house. He looked at the blond and smiled sadly. He was one of the few that believed that blond, but seeing him this weakened from the poison hurt. The boy had this special power that let you care for him right away and if you didn't, his personality would change you for the better. He was not sure the blond knew about it, but that power was very rare amongst the Demi-Gods, and even rarer to have the power in a Demi-God of Hades.

"There have been a change of plans, Naruto."

"And what would that be?" The blond asked.

"Well, Annabeth was supposed to meet Percy tomorrow to hang out and then bring him here." Chiron informed. "I want you to go with her because I fear something bad is stirring. Since you will not take the mantel of the prophecy, I need your help to protect Percy."

"You got it." Naruto said seriously. "I protected him when I got to this world, so it shouldn't be too hard."

"Good," Chiron replied with a smile. "For now though, I would rest if I were you."

"Yeah, this poison is very tiring." Naruto replied as his eyes drooped. This poison, if he took away too much, he would die, but since he was a son of Hades, he could be immune to it if he just took enough to ease Thalia's pain. So far, it was work and he was taking more and more, however, the result was him getting weaker if he didn't rest after doing so. Soon, he was a sleep in his chair across from Chiron.

"He is pushing himself too far." Clarisse stated.

"I know, but he is too stubborn to listen to reason. He must really love that girl, go that far for her." Chiron said, but he did notice that Clarisse flinch. She too was in love with the boy and it was hurting her to see the blond go after someone who was stuck in a tree. He didn't know what to say, so he just put a hand on the girl's shoulder in comfort. Clarisse smiled a bit before he sat down next to the blond, before Silena Beauregard walked in to see her cabin mate.

While Silena and Clarisse where with the blond, Chiron sighed to himself. He was going to have to tell Naruto and his little group of friends that he would be leaving soon.

XXX – dreamscape

In the dream, Naruto felt that he was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned.

He felt a presence next to him and saw the astral image of Percy next to him and it seem that the boy knew where they were because he voiced his thoughts Florida. Naruto had heard of the place and he did want to go there….mostly because of Disneyland.

Then they heard hooves clattering against the pavement. They turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life. Grover was a satyr so that meant he was half human, half goat. Not donkey of he might get mad at you if you say that.

Grover was one of their best friends and he went on an adventure with Annabeth to the world from an Olypian God war. That was a hell of a ride! However, they had not seen him for a while because the goat boy went on his search for Pan, the Wild God. He was someone every satyr was trying to find, but it was a quest no satyr ever returned from.

Anyway, in the dream, Grover was hauling goat tail, holding his human shoes in his hands, the way he does when he needs to move fast. He clopped past the little tourist shops and surfboard rental places. The wind bent the palm trees almost to the ground.

Grover was terrified of something behind him. He must've just come from the beach. Wet sand was caked in his fur. He'd escaped from somewhere. He was trying to get away from ... something.

A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm. Behind Grover, at the far end of the block, a shadowy figure loomed. It swatted aside a street lamp, which burst in a shower of sparks.

Grover stumbled, whimpering in fear. He muttered to himself, Have to get away. Have to warn them!

They couldn't see what was chasing him, but they could hear it muttering and cursing. The ground shook as it got closer. Grover dashed around a street corner and faltered. He'd run into a dead end courtyard full of shops. No time to back up. The nearest door had been blown open by the storm. The sign above the darkened display window read: ST. AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE.

Grover dashed inside. He dove behind a rack of wed-ding dresses.

The monster's shadow passed in front of the shop. Somehow, they could smell whatever it was – sickening combination of wet sheep wool and rotten meat and that weird sour body odor only monsters have, like a skunk that's been living off Mexican food.

Grover trembled behind the wedding dresses. The monster's shadow passed on.

Silence except for the rain. Grover took a deep breath. Maybe the thing was gone.

Then lightning flashed. The entire front of the store exploded, and a monstrous voice bellowed: "MIIIIINE!"

XXX

Naruto suddenly shot up. H ewas in his bed, which meant that someone had taken him to his room in the Aphrodite cabin. It was either Chales or Clarisse, because he doubted anyone in the cabin of the goddess of love would do that or they would break a nail. He chuckled at that though. He chuckled at that, he was the only one in the cabin who kept Aphrodite's gift for more than a few weeks. It only stopped when he started taking the poison from Thalia's Tree.

"Naruto! Annabeth is here." called the voice of Silena. She went to get to Percy so you better hurry up and get ready."

"Ok!" Naruto laughed. He could tell that Annabeth like the Son of Poseidon, but since she was the daughter of Athena, she kept it a secret….but Naruto knew since he was good friends with her.

Getting up, his thoughts returned to Grover and that odd dream. He would have to ask Percy for his opinion. Something was not right.

XXX

**Well there you all go. The First chapter of this story is finally out. I will try and get more out while I job search….good this month is going to be hell.**

**Oh and there will be some fluff in this story i decided that won't be with Naruto in the end of this series. It will be Naruto/Thalia/Zoe...tell me what you think. Clarisse will end up like canon...with that one guy from the Maze.  
**

**Review**


	2. DODGE!

**NPU: Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 2**

**DODGE!**

**Glad to see that you all are enjoying this series. I honestly didn't think this was a big hit but I guess it is. Hopefully I get a job so I can continue this story at the end of the month. Seriously, I still live with my dad, I'm 22 btw, so his rules still apply for some reason and if I can't get a better job than the one I got, which he calls 'shit', he will take away all my electronic devices and basically kick me out of the out of the house until 4 pm to 'motivate' me to get a job in this crappy economy. THE FUCK! My problem is that I don't have the experience needed for most jobs and that is why they won't even consider me.**

**Now, enough ranting, on with the show! Oh and this part of the story will have some Naruto/Clarisse fluff just for fun.**

"Ah! I had a nice night's sleep." Naruto yawned out while stretching his arms out.

Annabeth shook her head, only Naruto could shake off that deadly poison like that though sleep and pass it off as a good night's sleep. Silena told her the boy tossed in his sleep and she doubted the idiot knew that fact. "I am glad you're ok you nut! I mean, if you died, how would Percy take it?"

"Oh he would be extremely sad that one of his best friends died like any normal person would be." Naruto replied with his eyes closed as he walked with his arms behind his head.

"That would be true but you two are far from normal." Annabeth said with a smirk, making the blond trip a bit at her words.

"Oh that's cold." Naruto commented as they made their way to the big house so that they could Chiron that they were leaving. Mr. D couldn't care but he suspected that man a soft spot for him. He then grew annoyed. He knew they were just getting Percy, but seriously, what was the worse that could happen? If he had his way, Annabeth would have gone by herself so that his plan on getting the two together work. Buuut noooo, she insisted that he come along.

"I still don't know why I am coming along." Naruto said, showing his annoyance.

Annabeth sighed. "I told you, Percy might be in danger of some sort and I don't feel like fighting it off alone and with him." She didn't know her feeling for the boy but with Naruto around, she didn't have to think on it much when they were together. Being with friends made it easier for her.

"Ok…" Naruto drawled as he opened the door the Big House for her and went in after her. Hey, he was still a nice guy even though he was sarcastic and all that. "Explain that annoying to D.C. Why did I have to go?"

"Because I asked you to." Chiron said with a small chuckle.

"Yeah and it didn't kill you learn a few things about this country." Annabeth input with a smirk.

"Still it was boring and having to listen to you talk about all architecture in the building was driving me nuts!" Naruto said with a frown before he smiled. "Still it was nice hanging out outside of camp, but seriously, you should talk Percy's ear off about that stuff. He might actually listen."

"Wait, you weren't even listening?" Annabeth said in mock shock. She kind of figured that out by the way he responded to her some of the time.

"Yeah about half way through your rant." Naruto said with a smirk. It had seemed that the blond girl had picked up on some of his personality and figured him out.

"Ok that is enough." Chiron interrupted the playful banter. "Are you two about ready?"

"Heh, you know me. I got my clothes with seals on them to change into my ANBU gear at a moment's notice, my bracelets with my charm like weapons on them, and my red fox shoes, which I finally figured out to work." Naruto said. His clothes changed a bit, he had on a pair of ripped jeans and a black shirt with orange flames running along the bottom with the Uzumkai symbol on the back. He had even added a pair of sunglasses that rested on his head at the moment.

"I am all set." Annabeth replied, "I mean, we are not going on a long trip so we don't need much."

"Good, a taxi is waiting for you at the hill so hurry up." Chiron replied.

"Right-o" Naruto stated as he gave off a mock salute, getting rolled eyes from his fellow blond.

XXX

"Really, we are at Percy's place? You that eager to see him?" Naruto asked with a teasing smile.

"Oh shut up," Annabeth blushed a bit. "Look, you know where is room is, so let's go straight there."

"Meh…" Naruto said as he put a hand on the girl's shirt. "I get us outside his window just in case he is changing….or you want to see that?" The blonde just smacked his shoulder as he laughed before they disappeared in a black flash once they were away from the car. Not that the drive would see that little detail thanks to the mist but hey.

They appeared on the wall since the fire escape was all rickety, which Naruto found about that the hard way a long time ago. However, Annabeth was light enough so she was fine. She leaned over to look in the window and it seemed Percy saw something because he froze up a bit.

"Percy, you're going to be late!" they heard the voice of his mom called and Naruto sighed.

"Yeah, let's go before we freak her out." Naruto said. He like Percy's mom, she was nice. Annabeth quickly nodded before they disappeared in another black flash to the car.

XXX

Naruto got out of the car and looked at the building in from of him. He was so glad he decided not to tag along with Percy and go to school with him or he would already be at this place. Meriweather College Prep, according to Percy's emails, it was not that great. That was mostly because of the bullies.

Annabeth saw the spiky hair blond look at the place with disinterest. "So…how do you want to surprise him?"

Naruto rose an eyebrow before he smirked with an evil gleam in his eye, which scare the girl somewhat. Maybe asking him that was not sure a good idea. "Oh, go invisible to spy on him and mess with his mind."

"Oh great, mental torture." Annabeth dead panned.

"Yep! And it gives me a chance to test out my new darkness jutsu." Naruto replied.

"Oh and what is that?"

"A jutsu that messes with the light, making people think that I am invisible." Naruto said as he performed some hand signs while walking in the door. He wondered if the doors suddenly opening with no one there would freak anyone out. _Oh I hope it does._

Annabeth sighed. Sometimes she wondered about his sanity. She put on her cap and became invisible.

"**Darkness Style: Invisibility!**" With that, they were both invisible and they could see each other so that they wouldn't bump in each other.

XXX

The duo of Naruto and Annabeth walked the halls in silence, with Naruto grinning like a mad man. He had already pranked a few students into thinking that there was a ghost in the hallway because messing with them. As in messing with them, tapped them on the shoulders before he created a few shadow clones to open the lockers and bang them around.

However, his fun was cut short because Annabeth smacked him on the back of the head. Still, it was funny and he could see the hidden smile on the girl's face.

Soon, Naruto found Percy's unique energy signature. Since people in this world didn't have chakra, it was harder to find someone, but if you were a demi-god, you could tell who the person was by their energy because it reflected who their parent was.

They found the water boy in the a class that Annabeth said was a science class, thanks to all the strange looking glass tubes and colorful chemical. He instantly saw Percy paired up with a very tall kid. Something was odd about him, but he really didn't care.

Telling his invisible partner in crime to stay and watch, he went in and walked around nonchalantly. He tapped a few kids on the shoulder to mess with their heads. When the got to Percy and his tall partner, he heard what they were supposed to do. An explosion? Oh that was so perfect!

He decided to mess with the tall kid a bit and tapped in the shoulder while he was trying to grab hold of the test tubes. This action caused the tall kid to bump into the rest of the chemicals, sending them all into the trash, creating an orange mushroom cloud. Seeing this, Naruto quickly made out of the room, where the kids in the room vacated too while the has-mat team cleaned it out. The one good thing that came out of this was that Percy and his tall friend passed some test.

XXX

Away from the students, Naruto was on the floor laughing his ass off while his fellow blond scowled at him. "You could have gotten them or you hurt!"

"Oh relax!" Naruto wheezed out. "I was just having fun and it seemed that they passed whatever test they had to take, so that's a plus." He paused before smiling, "And another plus is that I created my favorite color!"

"Still, it was stupid to do, Naruto." Annabeth replied with her arms crossed.

Naruto smirked a bit, she was more worried about Percy getting hurt than anything, he relented and said, "Ok ok, I'll be more careful next while I am around your boyfriend." That made the girl blush before he growled and smacked, causing him to laugh.

"He is not my boyfriend!"

XXX

From that point, they observed the water boy for a bit more while he went to his next class, which was a history class that the blond Shinobi almost fell asleep in but Annabeth smacked him awake so that he cause any attention with his snoring. Yes, Naruto snored…loudly.

It seemed that Percy got bored while doing the assignment and took out his notebook and stared at the two photos inside. When Naruto and Annabeth went to D.C., they took pictures and emailed them to Percy. The first picture was of the Lincoln Memorial, but that didn't really catch his eye, what did was his friend Naruto on that stone man's shoulder, giving him bunny ears…literally.

The blond ninja was wearing a white T-shirt with crows, ripped blue jeans, a camp half-blood cap that he had on backwards and the red shoes he got from the fox he killed. Annabeth was in the picture and it seemed that she was pissed.

The other picture was of said blond girl. She was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in a bandanna. She was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with her arms crossed, looking extremely pleased with herself, like she'd personally designed the place.

Naruto was again in this picture, but he looked very bored as he stared at the clouds. He couldn't blame the blond, neither of them had any interest in architecture like Annabeth did and if he had to guess, Naruto was made to come along.

Percy silently chuckled at the pictures. He was glad to have them because looking at them reminded him that adventure they had was real and not from his imagination. He kind of wished the both of them where here with him because they he figure out the dream he had. He wouldn't admit, but Annabeth was smarter than he was. And Naruto seemed to have the dreams like he did he was good a figuring things out because of his shinobi skills.

Percy was about to close his notebook when Matt Sloan, the local bully, reached over and ripped the photo out of the rings. "Hey!" he protested.

Sloan checked out the picture and his eyes got wide before he laughed at Naruto's picture. "Heh, no way this cool guy is your friend! And this girl, she is not your-"

"Give it back!" His ears felt hot. Annabeth was NOT his girlfriend.

Naruto rose an eyebrow as he watch this and saw Percy's embarrassment. _ Ah denial…._

Sloan handed the photos to his ugly buddies, who snickered and started ripping it up to make spit wads. They were new kids who must've been visiting, because they were all wearing those stupid HI! MY NAME IS: tags from the admissions office. They must've had a weird sense of humor, too, because they'd all filled in strange names like: MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, and JOE BOB. No human beings had names like that.

"These guys are moving here next year," Sloan bragged, like that was supposed to scare the water boy. "I bet they can pay the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."

"He's not retarded." Percy defended his tall friend.

"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period." Sloan said while Percy shook with rage as he watched the idiots destroy his pictures.

With Naruto and Annabeth, they saw this and sighed. Percy would always be the same. However, Naruto narrowed his eyes the supposed new students. Something was not right with them. The duo stared at them and their forms shifted a bit thanks to the mist and their eyes widened. "Oh boy." Naruto said.

"You got that right." Annabeth replied as the bell rung. She made a split second decision and called out his name, "Percy!" He seemed to hear it but shrugged it off as he and he tall friend walked away.

The blond duo rush out of the room to see Percy and his tall , that he heard Percy call him Tyson at one point, get carried off into the gym by a bunch of rowdy kids. Naruto sighed, "Well, let's go and make sure nothing bad happens."

"I have a sinking feeling that something will." Annabeth replied with a bit of worry in her voice.

XXX

At first, things seemed fine in the beginning. Their coach, a very old guy by the name of coach Nunley, didn't seem that interested in the students he just let them all do what they want for the dodge ball game and went back to reading his sports illustrated magazine.

Then the game began. It was Matt Sloan and his gang with the newbies against Percy, Tyson and pretty much everyone who Matt and his gang picked on. It was pretty much one sided. When one of the huge new kids threw a ball at the sound of sound Percy shouted, "Hey! You could kill somebody!"

The visitor named Joe Bob grinned at the water boy evilly. Somehow, he looked a lot bigger now ... even taller than Tyson. His biceps bulged beneath his T-shirt. "I hope so, Perseus Jackson! I hope so!"

"Oh that is not good." Naruto deadpanned.

"You think?" Annabeth sarcastically said.

All around Matt Sloan, the visitors were growing in size. They were no longer kids. They were eight-foot-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts.

Matt Sloan dropped his ball. "Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who ..."

The other kids on his team started screaming and back-ing toward the exit, but the giant named Marrow Sucker threw a ball with deadly accuracy. It streaked past Raj Mandali just as he was about to leave and hit the door, slamming it shut like magic. Raj and some of the other kids banged on it desperately but it wouldn't budge.

"Let them go!" Percy yelled at the giants.

The one called Joe Bob growled at me. He had a tattoo on his biceps that said: JB luvs Babycakes. "And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"

He waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the center line—but these balls weren't made of red rubber. They were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated like wiffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes. They must've been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.

"Shit, get into gear Annabeth. We got…whatever that thing just called itself." Naruto said as his clothes changed to his AMBU Armor. The blond girl nodded and took out her knife, which Naruto sweat dropped at. "You seriously need to get something bigger."

"Oh shut up, we have to get to Percy!" Annabeth growled before the two made their way through the chaos.

The giant named Skull Eater threw his ball. Percy dove aside as the fiery bronze comet sailed past his shoulder. "Corey!" He screamed to his nerd like teammate.

Tyson pulled him out from behind the exercise mat just as the ball exploded against it, blasting the mat to smoking shreds.

"Run!" Percy told his teammates. "The other exit!"

They ran for the locker room, but with another wave of Joe Bob's hand, that door also slammed shut. "No one leaves unless you're out!" Joe Bob roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!" He launched his own fireball. Percy's teammates scattered as it blasted a crater in the gym floor.

When Percy reached for Riptide, which he usually kept in his pocket, but since they wer ein gym and he was wearing his gym clothes…well he didn't have pockets and that was a bit of a problem. He was completely defenseless! _Ah! Where is Naruto and his jutsu when you need them!_

Another fireball came right for him, but Tyson pushed Percy out of the , the explosion still blew the water boy head over heels. He found himself sprawled on the gym floor, dazed from smoke, his tie-dyed T-shirt peppered with sizzling holes. Just across the center line, two hungry giants were glaring down at him.

"Flesh!" they bellowed. "Hero flesh for lunch!" They both took aim.

"Percy needs help!" Tyson yelled, and he jumped in front of Percy just as they threw their balls.

"Tyson!" Percy screamed, but it was too late.

Both balls slammed into him ... but no ... he'd caught them. Somehow Tyson, who was so clumsy he knocked over lab equipment and broke playground structures on a regular basis, had caught two fiery metal balls speeding toward him at a zillion miles an hour. He sent them hurtling back toward their surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against their chests.

The giants disintegrated in twin columns of flame—a sure sign they were monsters, all right.

Monsters don't die. They just dissipate into smoke and dust, which saves heroes a lot of

trouble cleaning up after a fight.

Naruto paused in shocked. "Is that normal?" He said, referring to Tyson's strength.

"No." was all Annabeth said as she continued on.

"My brothers!" Joe Bob the Cannibal wailed. He flexed his muscles and his Babycakes tattoo rippled. "You will pay for their destruction!"

"Tyson!" Percy said. "Look out!"

Another comet hurtled toward them. Tyson just had time to swat it aside. It flew straight over Coach Nunley's head and landed in the bleachers with a huge KA-BOOM! Naruto look at it with a dead panned expression. "Yeah, and how does he notice _that_?" he said to himself.

Kids were running around screaming, trying to avoid the sizzling craters in the floor. Others were banging on the door, calling for help. Sloan himself stood petrified in the middle of the court, watching in disbelief as balls of death flew around him.

Coach Nunley still wasn't seeing anything. He tapped his hearing aid like the explosions were giving him interference, but he kept his eyes on his magazine.

Surely the whole school could hear the noise. The head-master, the police, somebody would come to help them.

"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob the Cannibal. "We will feast on your bones!" He and his friend all hefted those giant flaming balls and aimed for Percy and Tyson.

Naruto watched as Percy told Tyson to move. He was impressed with the boy's dodging skill but he did have a few near misses. Then, when Tyson punched the one called Skull Eater, the giant went down pretty easily, however, another one of those balls came right at the tall kid.

The ball caught Tyson square in the chest. He slid the length of the court and slammed into the back wall, which cracked and partially crumbled on top of him, making a hole right onto Church Street. They couldn't see how Tyson could still be alive, but he only looked dazed. The bronze ball was smoking at his feet. Tyson tried to pick it up, but he fell back, stunned, into a pile of cinder blocks.

"Well!" Joe Bob gloated. "I'm the last one standing! I'll have enough meat to bring Babycakes a doggie bag!"

"She might have to wait a while on that order!" Naruto's voice rang out through the gym. He could not stand by anymore and watch everyone get terrorized like this!

"NARUTO!" Percy cried out happily. They were coming to hang out after all, but he was glad they came earlier.

"Who the hell are you?" Joe Bob roared.

Naruto walked around the flames with a serious expression and the monster gulped. "Oh shit…the Angel of Death!" Yes, even the monsters knew him by that name. Their little adventure last year had gained a lot of attention from the monster world, even though he was the son of Hades.

Naruto turned to Percy and said, "So…how are things?"

Percy's eye twitched at that. Only this blond could be so nonchalant in a situation like this.

"HEY! I AM STILL HERE YOU BRATS!" Joe Bob roared in rage before he charged.

"Look out!" Percy and Annabeth shouted.

Naruto smirked as he held out his hand. "**Darkness Style: Rasengan!"** He thrust the ball of swirling darkness in the raging monster's gut, making it twist around before shooting off, but Naruto wasn't done, he flashed away before appearing behind the fling monster. He then caught Annabeth's knife and sliced down the middle, turning the monster to dust.

The blond landed in the smoke and when it cleared some, Percy saw his two blond friend smiling at him. Naruto looked fine except all the soot on his skin, but with the newish clothes, he looked like the same as the knuckle headed ninja he met a long time ago.

Annabeth's face was grimy and scratched. She had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife that was now in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she'd just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.

Matt Sloan, who'd been standing there dumbfounded the whole time, finally came to his senses. He blinked at Annabeth and Naruto, as if he dimly recognized them from Percy's notebook picture. "That's the cool guy ... That's the girl—"

Annabeth punched him in the nose and knocked him flat. "And you," she told him, "lay off my friend." Naruto sweat dropped at that, but then smirked.

The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. Percy heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, he could see the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.

"Annabeth, Naruto..." Percy stammered. "How did you ... how long have you ..."

"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife. "We've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."

"Yeah and you can thank me for you passing grade in that science class of your." Naruto bragged with an arm around Percy's shoulder.

Percy smiled at Naruto thankfully before the word's Annabeth said caught up to him and his face grew red, "The shadow I saw this morning—that was—" Naruto chuckled at that, muttering something along the lines someone getting in a peek, to which Annabeth punched him. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bed-room window?"

"There's no time to explain!" she snapped, though she looked a little red-faced herself. "I just didn't want to—"

"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.

"Meet us outside," Annabeth told me. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that Percy didn't quite understand. However, he didn't have to worry about Naruto because he looked at Tyson with interest. "You'd better bring him."

"What?" Percy asked a bit confused.

"No time!" she said. "Hurry!" She then put a hand on Naruto's shoulder while he gave a salute with a smirk before black flashing away.

XXX

The duo appeared on Church Street to wait for their fellow demi-god and his new friend. Soon, they saw the figure of Percy running to them in his gym clothes and riptide in pen form in his hands, followed by Tyson. "Here we go." Naruto said.

XXX

**There is the second chapter, next time they go on a wild taxi ride to get back to camp!**

**Review!**


	3. Crazy Taxi Hags

**NPU: Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 3**

**Crazy Taxi Hags**

**Ok, just so you all know, I have a plan for some of the future weapons that I mentioned in the last story…especially the Sword of Olympus. Here is a hint on how Naruto will use it: Typhon. Oh and this week, I have been to 137 places and only a few MIGHT be hiring…this shit is just sad! And I met a few other job hunters that are having the same trouble with getting a job as me!**

**Luckily, I have two interviews next week! Penn Station, a sub station, and Family video….in another city. Better be worth it!**

**XXXX  
**

Naruto and Annabeth waited for Percy and Tyson in an alley down Church Street. She pulled Tyson and Percy off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.

You caused quite the commotion." Naruto snickered while Percy gave in a flat look.

"Where'd you find him?" Annabeth demanded, pointing at Tyson.

Percy knew he made his peace with the girl last year but glaring at his friend like she was doing was a little harsh. Thankfully, Naruto didn't seem to mind the big guy at all. Of course, he usually got along with everyone.

"He's my friend," Percy told her.

"Is he homeless?"

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

She looked surprised. "He can talk?"

"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."

"Ah! Gross!" Annabeth stepped away from him.

"Aw don't be like that." laughed Naruto.

"Oh shut up Naruto!" Annabeth roared angrily, as he back off, knowing when to quit while ahead.

Percy couldn't believe she was being so rude. He examined Tyson's hands, which he was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, but they looked fine—grimy and scarred, with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips—but they always looked like that. "Tyson," He said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," Annabeth muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around." Tyson seemed fascinated by Annabeth's blond hair. He tried to touch it, but she smacked his hand away.

"Laistry-what?" both Naruto and Percy asked.

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before." She explained.

"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?" asked Percy.

"Hell if I know, I wasn't going to even both try and saw what they were. Hell, if I can even say it, how would I spell it?" Naruto joked, which got Percy to laugh while Annbeth rolled eyes and muttered something about traveling with idiots.

She thought about what to call them for a moment. "Canadians," she decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"Oh that nice…remind me NOT to go to Canada anytime soon…eh." Naruto said with a smirk.

"The police'll be after me." Percy replied, ignoring Naruto for the moment.

"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having the dreams?"

"The dreams ... about Grover?" Percy asked.

Her face turned pale. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"

"I think I know what dreams he is taking about." Naruto cut in with his serious face. When something bad was happening to his friends, he got serious. "Percy, in the dream, are you seeing Grover being chased in Florida by a gaint…thing."

"Yes!" Percy shouted.

"Terrific." He said sarcastically. "I still can't see why you don't see my astral image in those dreams but I see you."

"I do and that has been bugging me because I have been wanting to talk to you about that." Percy explained.

"Great, now we know it is true." Naruto replied.

"Wait, you knew about this and didn't saw anything?"

"It has only been happening recently!" both boys shouted.

"Whatever, you should have at least said something before we left on the way here!" Annabeth shouted at her fellow blond.

"Well, I wanted to confirm it with Percy so that I was not going crazy." Naruto explained, making Annabeth calm down some.

"Wait. What were you dreaming about?" Percy suddenly asked the blond girl.

Her eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour. "Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."

"You mean you dreamt something while he fell asleep in the taxi before the shit hit the fan?" Naruto cut in."

"Yes." Annabeth said quietly. "I didn't want to say anything to worry you." She saw Naruto close his eyes to calm himself. She didn't blame him. He was attached to that place after all…especially Thalia's Tree.

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"

"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing us all the way from Virginia, trying to stop us. Have you had a lot of attacks?"

Percy shook his head. "None all year ... until today."

"None? But how ..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Percy asked, a bit annoyed at her answer.

Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something ... Son of the Sea God?" At this, the three demi-gods exchanged looks.

Percy looked to Naruto and the blond blinked before saying, "Don't look at me! He is your friend to explain all this to."

"Big guy," Percy said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Athena—"

"Yes," Tyson said.

"Well ... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."

"Yes," Tyson said, like he was still waiting for his friend to get to the point.

"Uh, well, Annabeth, Naruto, and I are half-bloods," Percy said. "We're like ... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes."

"So ... you believe me?" Percy said, a little put off that his tall friend was takking this all calmly and understood everything.

Tyson nodded. "But you are ... Son of the Sea God?"

"Yeah," Percy admitted. "My dad is Poseidon."

Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then ..."

A siren wailed. A police car raced past the alley.

"We don't have time for this," Annabeth said. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi all the way to camp?" Percy said. "You know how much money—"

"Trust me."

Percy hesitated. "What about Tyson?" He imagined escorting his giant friend into Camp Half-Blood. If he freaked out on a regular playground with regular bullies, how would he act at a training camp for demigods? On the other hand, the cops would be looking for us. "We can't just leave him," Percy decided. "He'll be in trouble, too."

"Then he can come with us, no biggie." Naruto replied, while Annabeth did not look happy, but agreed none the less. Percy idly wondered why Annabeth was not happy about seeing Tyson, but he would worry about it later, right now they had to get out of here.

XXX

"Here." Annabeth stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. "I hope I have one left."

"Have what?" Naruto asked.

While the two blonds were conversing, Percy took the time to look at them….mostly at Annabeth. She looked even worse than he had realized at first. Her chin was cut. Twigs and grass were tangled in her ponytail, as if she'd slept several nights in the open. The slashes on the hems of her jeans looked suspiciously like claw marks. Naruto didn't have any cut thanks to his healing factor, which did not surprise Percy at all. However, the male blond's clothes were all rough and ragged like he had been in one too many fights.

"What are you looking for?" Percy repeated Naruto's question. All around them, sirens wailed. Percy figured it wouldn't be long before more cops cruised by, looking for juvenile delinquent gym-bombers. No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He'd probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and Percy were the bloodthirsty cannibals.

"Found one. Thank the gods." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that they recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.

"Annabeth," Percy said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."

"Stêthi," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "Ô hárma diabolês!"

Naruto's eye twitched at that. "Chariot of Damnation, yeah that is not ominous at all! He said as she threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared.

"Oh don't be paranoid Naruto. You of all people should not be bothered by this stuff."

"I don't see why we don't just take a normal cab back to camp." Naruto huffed.

"You what the monsters to destroy that one too?" Annabeth growled.

"Oh right, forgot about that." Naruto absentmindedly as where the coin had fallen,the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.

It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was woven out of smoke, like you could walk right through it. There were words printed on the door—some-thing like GYAR SSIRES—but with their dyslexia made it hard for them to decipher what it said.

The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair cover-ing her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain. "Passage? Passage?"

"Four to Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at them to get in, like this was all completely normal.

"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take his kind!" She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Oh brother. Here I'll give you 4 more drachma on arrival."

"Done!" the woman screamed. Reluctantly, Percy got in, followed by Tyson, Naruto, and then Annabeth as the last one to get in.

The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy— no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving ... Wait a minute. There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.

The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

"Oh this should be fun." Naruto said sarcastically in his squished position between Annabeth and Tyson. Hey it was not all bad; he was sitting next to a pretty girl.

The old hag floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!

The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained.

Naruto eye twitched at that. "Eye, geez, this just like that Disney movie!" He didn't get to say anymore because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump, and flew into the next block.

"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."

"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"

"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.

The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" yelled Anger.

Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left Percy's stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.

However, Naruto was about to lose his if things didn't improve. "Agh, I think I am going to be sick. This ride is nuts!"

"Don't get it on me!" Annabeth screeched.

"Excuse me," Percy said to the old hags. "But ... can you see?"

"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.

"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.

"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.

Turning to Annabeth, who usually had all the answers, seeing Naruto was trying to hold his lunch in at the moment. "They're blind?"

"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."

"One eye?"

"Yeah."

"Each?"

"No. One eye total."

"Not feel so good!" Tyson moaned out.

"I feel ya big guy." Naruto groaned, but he did hear the conversation between Percy and Annabeth. "So, we got three old ladies and just one has an eye….oh joy." He then looked up to see the three arguing like no tomorrow. "Oh yeah, it helps that they are all insane too."

The three gray ladies were too busy squabbling to pay them any attention. Percy looked over at Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and he gave her a why-did-you-do-this-to-me look.

"Hey," she said, "Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."

"Ugh, reminded me never to take this hell ride again." Naruto complained, to which Percy agreed to.

"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?"

"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."

"I so glad for that." Naruto stated. "I would rather fly to be honest."

"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"

"Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"

"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.

"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"

"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"

"But I'm driving, you old hag!"

"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"

Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing Percy between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.

The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at

Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, Percy and Naruto realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.

Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"

Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.

"Uh, if anybody's interested," Percy said, "we're going to die!"

"Ugh, if the car crash doesn't kill me, the puke will!" Naruto groaned.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told them, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."

"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth.

"We know things!"

"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"

"The location you seek!" Tempest added.

Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"

"Are you sure about the wise thing?" Naruto asked Annabeth quietly. "They seem bat shit crazy if you ask me."

"Just trust me!" She replied as the car swerved again and this time the two blond butt heads, screaming out in pain.

"What?" Percy said, asking what the Gray Sister meant. "What location? I'm not seeking any—"

"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"

"Tell me."

"No!" they all screamed.

"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.

"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.

"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!"

"No!" yelled Anger.

"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"

She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into Percy's lap.

Said boy jumped so high at this in fright, that his head hit the ceiling as the eye fell on the floor.

"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.

"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.

"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.

"I don't have it!" Percy said.

"There, by your foot," Annabeth said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"

"I'm not picking that up!"

The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.

"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.

"Annabeth," I yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"

"Are you crazy? Get the eye!"

Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.

Seeing as Percy was too grossed out to pick up the damn eye, Naruto decided to. "Oh screw it, not like this is not fun!" He said as he reached over Tyson to get the eye ball off the ground.

"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew he had her missing peeper. "Give it back!"

"Not until you explain," Naruto told her. "What were you talking about, the location he seeks? I am curious myself."

"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"

The group looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a gray blur. They were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.

"NARUTO," Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."

"I am willing to risk it, besides, they brought it up and this is pay back for this hell ride." He told Annabeth who paled, she hated Naruto's pranks. "Alright just tell us so we will be happy…or it I'll have Percy throw it out the window!"

"What? Why ME?"

"I don't know, convenience." Naruto replied.

"Make Annabeth do it!"

"Don't give that thing to me!" Annabeth freaked.

"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!" They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked while Naruto put on a thoughtful expression, his stomach pain forgotten. "That makes no sense!"

"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

They were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. He could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest—Thalia's tree, which contained the life force or a fallen hero.

"Naruto!" Annabeth screamed forcefully, "Give them the eye now!"

"Meh…alright." Naruto replied, seeing as he wasn't going to get a better answer then that. He tossed the eye at the old hags, which landed in Wasp's lap.

The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"

She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."

"Glad you feel better big guy." Naruto said with dizzy eye before he waved his hand in front of his face. "DUDE! What did you eat before coming here, rotten onions?"

"All right," Percy told the Gray Sisters, ignoring Naruto's complaint. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."

"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out now."

Percy looked at Annabeth with a confused looked on his face before he look outside and gasped. Naruto, who saw this growled and got out after Annabeth and saw the mayhem.

At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack. "I am gone for a little bit and this happens!" Naruto growled out as he made his ANBU armor appear. "Time to kick some ass!"

XXX

**Ok that that chapter. In the next chapter, I might have one of those weapons I talked about in the last story and it is going to be Clarisse's weapon….**

**REVIEW! Oh and sorry to those who are sad about Clarisse not ending up with Naruto. They are more like bets friends with some romantic moments…but that is about it in this story.**


	4. Revenge of the Nerds I mean Bulls!

**NPU: Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 4**

**Revenge of the Nerds…I mean Bulls!**

**I have a few ideas for some fill chapter when Naruto and Clarisse are on the sea. Like Naruto having to fight someone from his own world….the last son of the monster lady. A little singing courtesy of Naruto and the crew…got the perfect song for that and Naruto meeting Ares again….maybe a little spar too. I need more tho, please give me some ideas!**

Naturally as soon as they got out of the cab, the three gray sisters high tailed it out of there. Naruto and Percy grimaced when they saw what they were up against. Bulls….again. This was _Bull_shit! They already and an oh so fun time last time when they had to fight the Minotaur. Now they had to fight two mulls made out of bronze and…they were the size of freaking elepants! And even that wasn't bad enough. Naturally they had to breathe fire, too.

"Oh, man," said Annabeth, looking at the battle raging on the hill.

"Crap…Thalia is weak…the bulls have gotten through!" Naruto growled angrily. This was the reason he did not want to leave camp, but he at least got to fight some monsters on the way to Percy's, but still, he said he would protect the daughter of Zeus! That damn poison was getting stronger!

They saw the ten or so campers on the hill, decked out in full Greek armor trying to fend off the beasts and it was not working so well. One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" A girl's voice—gruff and familiar.

"It's Clarisse," Annabeth said. "Come on, we have to help her."

"Already on it!" Naruto said while Percy was a bit skeptical. They had not told him much of what had happened since he left camp to go to school and he was surprised to find out there was a border patrol.

Normally, rushing to Clarisse's aid would not have been high on much of anyone's "to do" list. She was one of the biggest bullies at camp. She was also a daughter of Ares and since Percy and Naruto beat their dad last time they met, Percy was a little skeptical that they would want their help. Naruto, however, was friends with the kid of Ares, so he had to problems.

Clarisse's fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horse-hair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk. Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

"While you guys decide on what to do I am go in to help." Naruto said as he pressed a spear like charm on his right bracelet and out popped a large double sided purple spear that sparked lightning every now and then. "I have new weapon I would like to introduce! It is called the Spear of Destiney!"

While Percy looked in awe at the new weapon, he was about to ask how the blond got it when Naruto suddenly jumped high in the air, jumping all the way to the battle on the hill. "INCOMING!" Naruto shouted.

The warriors all knew that voice and were very thankful to hear it. Seriously, he was one of their best fighters and it had been a pain fighting the bulls without his help. Sure, some might now trust him at the moment because of the poison in Thalia's tree, but they could always count on him in battle.

They quickly got out of the way as Naruto jumped down and slammed on the sides of the spear into the bull they were fighting….or at least he though it did. It made a noticeable dent and stunned it because of the electricity…but that was it for now. Spears where not his forte and that was why he made this for someone else.

"Oi, blondie!" oh and speak of the devil, here she is! Clarisse ran up to her friend and smirk. "'bout time you got your ass back here! We could really use the help! Nice spear by the way."

"Thanks, I made it for you since Percy broke your last one. A nice upgrade I do say so myself since it also holds electricity." Naruto said as he handed the spear to her. However, before she could swing it around, the bull regained it's senses and tried to smash them. Key word here is tried. Naruto used his speed and got the two of them out of harms way.

"Thanks." Clarisse with a bit of a blush.

"Hey, you are friend and good one at that. No biggie!" Naruto said with his trade mark foxy smile. Then he got serious as he made Fear and Destruction appear in his hands. "Time to show these beast not to mess with Camp Half-Blood!"

XXX

A few mintues before…

Percy and Annabeth saw Naruto land and hit the bull. Percy turned to his tall friend and saw that he was shocked.

"Percy's friend jumped really high!" Tyson said in awe.

Percy nervously chuckled at that, Naruto was going to help him explain all of this later. Uncapping his pen, making the bronze sword appear, he said, "Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."

"No!" Annabeth said. "We need him."

Percy stared at her. "He's mortal. He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't—"

"Percy, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burned to a crisp."

"Medea's what? Wait, Naruto looks fine fighting those things!"

Annabeth rummaged through her backpack and cursed. "I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my night-stand at home. Why didn't I bring it?" She growled at bit at that before saying, "Naruto uses those fire jutsu and he had a fire demon in him till he got to camp. He is pretty much immune to that kind of heat."

"Well that is good news for him." Naruto said with a noticeable smirk. "But I still have no clue what you are going on about with the sun screen and I am not letting Tyson take another chance."

"Percy—"

"Tyson, stay back." Percy raised his sword. "I'm going in."

Tyson tried to protest, but I was already running up the hill toward Clarisse, who was yelling at her patrol, trying to get them into phalanx formation with Naruto right next to them with his swords out and a serious look on his face. It was a good idea. The few who were listening lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide—and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills.

Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. Annabeth ran toward them, trying to help. She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. The other bull charged Clarisse's line.

XXX

"Hold the line!" Clarisse shouted as the one of the bulls shot out a searing jet of flame at her and Naruto. Luckily the two got out of the way, but still that was close.

The bull that had been chasing Annabeth before she was invisible got bored of looking for her and charged at Clarisse from behind.

"Behind you!" Percy yelled. "Look out!"

It would have been better if he had not said anything at all and let Naruto help her because, all that did was startle her. Clarisse went flying backward and landed in a smoldering patch of grass. The bull charged past her, but not before blasting the other heroes with its fiery breath. Their shields melted right off their arms. They dropped their weapons and ran as Bull Number Two closed in on Clarisse for the kill because as it charged at her, it also blew out some fire.

Luckily, Naruto got in front of her and block the stream of fire with his swords, making the stream be sent off in two different directions. Naruto grunt as he got a good position so that the powerful stream of fire would not push him back and hit his friend. "Mess with fir eand you are going to get burned!" He screamed as he redirected the stream back to its owner and blasted the beast back a bit.

While that was happening, Percy had gotten to Clarisse and dragged her away, but eh felt those flames and thought Naruto was nuts for blocking them. It could microwave a frozen burrito and then turn it to ashes!

"Let me go!" Clarisse pummeled Percy's hand. "Percy, curse you!" He did…just by the pine tree just to be safe while Annabeth ordered the remaining warriors to attack.

Naruto didn't have to worry about that because he had his own problem at the moment. All that he had done to the bull, which was the same bull he first attacked, was blow off it horn! Now it was beyond pissed and it was charging at him now. "You still wanna play….fine!" Naruto shouted as he too charged at the beast while charging up and attack he had been working on.

"**Wind Style: Oodama Rasengan!"**

Naruto shoved the large sphere of wind and chakra right on the dent of the beast. The result was the beast's armor cracking until it fell about and it's back exploded from all the pressure. The bronze beast fell apart after that.

Naruto smirked before his eyes widened and he fell to his knees as he clutched his arm. "Damn…I forgot that the poison also affects my chakra for a bit." His whole arm felt like it was about to burst open like the bronze bull's back. But for some reason, it was on a minor scale with the rest of his body, but that was to be expected since the last time he used chakra after taking the poison away, he felt the same way. Thankfully during the trip to Percy's, he just used his swords.

"Naruto! Are you ok?" Percy asked. He wondered why that attack would hurt Naruto as well. It did not make sense.

"Argh! Does it look like I am ok!" Naruto snapped, not thinking straight. Before either boy could saw anything else, the other bull charged in before back handing the blond away, making him skid across the grass until he ended up next to Thalia's tree, next to Clarisse.

"Naruto!" Percy and the others shouted out. Clarisse checked him and nodded to the others that he was ok, but she glared at Percy.

Ignoring the glare of the daughter of Ares, Percy sent his own at the bull that was only a few feet from him. Percy lunged the beast that hurt his friend, but it sent stream of fire, making the water boy have to roll to the side to dodge.

Unfortunately, a tree root caught Percy's foot, making pain shoot through his body. The damn root sprained his ankle! Still, he was able to swing his sword at the beast, cutting off its snout. It ran away in pain and confusion.

However, it regained some of its composure and glared at the water boy menacingly before it charged the son of Poseidon. Percy tried to get back up, but with his sprained ankle, he didn't get very far.

Seeing her friend about to be trampled on by an elephant sized bronze bull, Annabeth shouted, "Tyson! Help him!"

Somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, "Can't—get—through!"

"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"

Thunder shook the hillside. Suddenly Tyson was there, barreling toward Percy, yelling: "Percya and new friends need help!" He got between Percy and the last bull just as it sent a stream of fire towards them.

"Tyson!" Percy yelled as his friend was engulfed in flames as it swirled around him like a red tornado.

When the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched. The bull must've been as surprised as Percy was, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"

His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.

"Down!" Tyson yelled.

The bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of head in odd places.

Annabeth ran over to her friend and saw that his ankle was making him in pain, so she gave him some Olympian nectar to drink and he felt a lot better thanks to it healing properties. That is when he noticed a burning smell that was coming from him, which was all the arm hair he used to have but now was singed off. Oh well, not much loss there.

"Ugh, thank the gods that's over!" Percy said happily.

"You are just lucky that you are not dead." Annabeth said.

"Ugh." Naruto said as he walked over to them. He then cracked his back, which let of a few sickening pops and said, "Yeah. That really hurt by the way."

"It looked like it did!" Percy said.

"Heh, and I am sorry for snapping. I am still getting used to that pain." Naruto said sheepishly.

It was then they saw Clarisse next to the male blond, seething. She pulled off her helmet and glared right at Percy. "YOU! RUIN! EVERYTHING!" She screamed, her new spear strapped to her back. "I had everything completely under control until you came along. Hell, Naruto was more help then you were!"

Annabeth grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."

"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "you've got wounded campers."

Naruto saw that this sobered the girl up and a bit and said, "Yeah, you were their leader in this and we won. Check and see if your teammates are ok. I would go but I don't think some of them trust me still."

"I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.

Percy then saw his friend Tyson and said in awe and confusion, "You didn't die."

Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"My fault," Annabeth said. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you since that attack knocked Naruto for a loop. Otherwise, you would've died."

"Glad to see we have more hands to help protect him." Naruto joked.

Percy rolled his eyes at the joke. "Wait, what do you mean, 'let' him cross the barrier.

"Geez, I am surprised you have not noticed yet." Naruto groaned.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean ... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

Percy sighed before he looked at his tall friend, I mena really looked this time and saw the mist disappear around his face area and that made Percy's eyes widen.

"Tyson," Percy stammered. "You're a ..."

"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

"One of the what?"

"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said distastefully.

Naruto sighed. "Man, way to find out about this." He paused, "Percy, this guys like your friend here are mistakes. Children of nature spirits and gods…heh, well it is just one god since he gets pretty bored and horny. Anyway, they don't come out right and no one wants them and I can sympathize with our large friend here that it does suck! So they get tossed out onto the streets and they grow up wild. Not sure how Tyson found you but I guess it is a good thing."

Annabeth glared at Tyson, not that he noticed and said, "We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."

"But the fire. How—"

"He's a Cyclops." Annabeth paused, as if she were remembering something unpleasant. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you." Percy just let his jaw drop at that, trying to figure out how he had never noticed that little fact about his tall friend.

Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened. Naruto, we could really use that clone technique of yours." The blond nodded and created about 15 clones to help out, which she seemed grateful about.

"Tantalus?" Percy asked while Naruto wondered why they had to bring everyone to that guy. He had been avoiding that man because he seemed….unpleasant.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.

"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here." Percy argued.

Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. You guys have been gone too long. Things are changing."

"Wait, what the hell do you mean." Naruto said before something clicked. "I think was trying to get the nerve to tell me something before we left but…how can this be it?"

"Yeah, he's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?" Percy asked, which Naruto grimaced. He now knew why. The gods didn't trust Chiron anymore before Thalia's tree got poisoned. It seemed a new camp leader was put in charge of this place and Naruto knew this was going to be hell.

"That happened," Clarisse snapped as she pointed to Thalia's tree.

The pine tree's needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

"Oh…crap." Percy said with wide eyes.

"Yeah. That was one of my first impression the first time I saw that as well." Naruto growled. "Someone had poisoned the tree and I have been doing my damn best to ease Thalia's pain, but it is not doing much good since it seems to be growing stronger and every time I take it….it gets worse! It also messes up my chakra for a time. That is why I was in pain." Naruto explained while Clarisse and Annabeth looked sadly at him.

"I have to do something to save Thalia!" Naruto declared.

XXX

**Ok, there we go. Review please.**


	5. The Man to Prank!

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters  
Chapter 5  
The Man to Prank!  
**

**It is called procrastination! Still I finally got this out…so yay me! God I watch too much Disney channel.**

Naruto as they walked through the camp to the Big House. The forest looked a little sickly and everyone was on edge, thinking they could be attacked at a moment's notice, but they were all ready. To him, it was way to quiet. He saw that Percy seemed to be bothered by this as well.

When they got to the Big House, they found Chiron in his apartment, listening to his favorite

1960s lounge music while he packed his saddlebags. He was a centaur after all. From the waist up he looks like a reg-ular middle-aged guy with curly brown hair and a scraggly beard. From the waist down, he's a white stallion. He can pass for human by compacting his lower half into a magic wheelchair. Naruto and Percy knew that form easily since he was their teacher in the last school they were in.

As soon as they saw that man, Tyson froze, "PONY!" he screamed with stars in his….eye.

Chiron turned, looking offended. "I beg your pardon?"

Annabeth ran up and hugged him. "Chiron, what's happening? You're not ... leaving?" Her voice was shaky. Chiron was like a second father to her.

Chiron ruffled her hair and gave her a kindly smile. "Hello, child. And Percy, my goodness.

You've grown over the year!" He turned to Naruto and smiled. "Glad you accomplish what you set out to do."

"Thanks, but you can't really be fired can you?" Naruto said in all seriousness.

Chiron's eyes glinted with dark humor. "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."

"What a load horse crap!" Naruto said, pun intended.

"But this is crazy!" Annabeth cried. "Chiron, you couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!"

"Nevertheless," Chiron sighed, "some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances."

"Come on! If anyone should be banished from this place it should have been me. I couldn't protect her and this is what happens!" Naruto growled.

"Noble of you to say, but what's been done cannot be changed." Chiron said sadly.

"I don't like it." Percy said with an angry scowl. He really did not like Mr. D at the moment.

Chiron's face darkened. He stuffed a Latin-English dictionary into his saddlebag while the

Frank Sinatra music oozed from his boom box.

Tyson was still staring at Chiron in amazement. He whimpered like he wanted to pat Chiron's flank but was afraid to come closer. "Pony?"

Chiron sniffed. "My dear young Cyclops! I am a centaur."

"Chiron," Percy said. "What about the tree? What happened?"

He shook his head sadly. "The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."

"Then we know who's responsible. Kro—"

"Do not invoke the titan lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now."

"But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This has to be his idea. He'd get Luke to do it, that traitor."

"Perhaps," Chiron said. "But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless ..."

"But…" Percy said then looked at Naruto, who looked away in sadness when he heard of Thalia's Fate. "Naruto, surely you or your dad can do something, right?"

"I have already tried that."Naruto said sadly. "He said it is an older poison from whatever is in Tartarus. I offer to go there, but he told me no and I just don't know what to do. If I don't help her, that would be another promise that I would fail….and I can't have that!"

Percy and Annabeth looked at their blond friend in sadness. He was losing someone dear to him and that was never something anyone wanted to know the feeling of. Annabeth then remember what Chiron said. "Unless what?"

"No," Chiron said. "A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."

What is it?" Percy asked. "We'll go find it!"

"Right, I'll do anything!" Naruto offered.

Chiron closed his saddlebag. He pressed the stop but-ton on his boom box. He then turned rested his hands on the two boys' shoulders, looking them both in the eyes. "Naruto, Percy, you must promise me that you will not act rashly. I told your mother, Percy, that I did not want you coming here….even though Naruto brought you here anyway. It has gotten too dangerous. But now that you are here, stay here. Train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave."

"Why?" Percy asked. "I want to do something! I can't just let the borders fail. The whole camp will be—"

"Overrun by monsters," Chiron said. "Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap of the titan lord. Remember last summer! He almost took your life."

As Percy reflected on what happened last year, Naruto growled. "I am not going to sit here and let her die! We could do something about and when that time comes I am going to take it. I will NOT let her die. Hell, don't even know how to bring her back if she did!"

"Naruto….you do realize that if you tried that, you or someone else would have to take her place." Chiron said in all seriousness.

"I know….but if there is ONE technique out there that does not have that effect, I will use it if she does die, but like I said, I will NOT let here die!: Naruto all but shouted. Chiron sighed and he patted the boy on the shoulder.

"I know it is not easy, but please until there is a way, stay here."

"Fine." Naruto while Annabeth was trying hard not to cry.

Chiron brushed a tear from her cheek. "You and Naruto stay with Percy," he told her. "Keep him safe. The prophecy—remember it!"

"I—I will." She said.

"Like I am going to let him die." Naruto grumbled out.

"Um ..." Percy said. "Would this be the super-dangerous prophecy that has me in it, but the gods have forbidden you to tell me about?"

Nobody answered.

"Right," I muttered. "Just checking."

"Chiron ..." Annabeth said. "You told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes. If they dismiss you from camp—"

"Swear you two will do your best to keep Percy from danger," he insisted. "Swear upon the River Styx."

"I swear it upon the River Styx," the two stated.

Thunder rumbled outside.

"Very well," Chiron said. He seemed to relax just a little. "Perhaps my name will be cleared and I shall return. Until then, I go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It's possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved ... one way or another."

Naruto crossed his arms. "For everyone's sake, it better be."

Annabeth stifled a sob. Chiron patted her shoulder awkwardly. "There, now, children. I must entrust your safety to Mr. D and the new activities director. We must hope ... well, perhaps they won't destroy the camp quite as quickly as I fear."

"Who is this Tantalus guy, anyway?" Percy demanded. "Where does he get off taking your job?"

"I have been wondering about that too." Naruto commented.

A conch horn blew across the valley. It was already that late? It was time for the campers to assemble for dinner.

"Go," Chiron said. "You will meet him at the pavilion. I will contact your mother, Percy, and let her know you're safe. No doubt she'll be worried by now. Just remember my warning! You are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment that the titan lord has forgotten you!"

With that, he clopped out of the apartment and down the hall, Tyson calling after him, "Pony!

Don't go!"

Percy realized he'd forgotten to tell Chiron about the dream he and Naruto had of Grover. Now it was too late. The best teacher he'd ever had was gone, maybe for good.

Tyson started bawling almost as bad as Annabeth. Naruto looked at Percy and nodded his head at the crying blonde. Percy understood and tried to tell her it was ok while Naruto decided to comfort the young Cyclopes, but none of them thought it was going to be ok for a while. Things where defiantly going south.

XXX

The sun was setting behind the dining pavilion as the campers came up from their cabins. The little group stood in the shadow of a marble column and watched them file in. Annabeth was still pretty shaken up, but she promised she'd talk to the boys later. Then she went off to join her siblings from the Athena cabin—a dozen boys and girls with blond hair and gray eyes like hers. Annabeth wasn't the oldest, but she'd been at camp more summers than just about anybody. You could tell that by looking at her camp necklace—one bead for every summer, and Annabeth had six. No one questioned her right to lead the line.

Then Naruto left to go with the Aphrodite kids, who seemed to smile at him brightly as he made his way over to them. They were not that strong in battle and they knew it. So they were glad to have him in their cabin. Percy knew that feeling well. Anyone felt safe with the blond shinobi, despite who his dad was. So he was basically their leader….apart from Selina.

Next came Clarisse, leading the Ares cabin. She had one arm in a sling and a nasty-looking gash on her cheek, but otherwise her encounter with the bronze bulls didn't seem to have fazed her. Someone had taped a piece of paper to her back that said, YOU MOO, GIRL! But nobody in her cabin was bothering to tell her about it.

After the Ares kids came the Hephaestus cabin—six guys led by Charles Beckendorf, a big fifteen-year-old African American kid. He had hands the size of catchers' mitts and a face that was hard and squinty from looking into a blacksmiths forge all day. He was nice enough once you got to know him, but no one ever called him Charlie or Chuck or Charles. Most just called him Beckendorf. Rumor was he could make anything. Give him a chunk of metal and he could create a razor-sharp sword or a robotic warrior or a singing birdbath for your grandmother's garden. Whatever you wanted.

The other cabins filed in: Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus. Naiads came up from the canoe lake. Dryads melted out of the trees. From the meadow came a dozen satyrs.

After the satyrs filed in to dinner, the Hermes cabin brought up the rear. They were always the biggest cabin. Last summer, it had been led by Luke, the guy who'd fought with Thalia and Annabeth on top of Half-Blood Hill.

Now the Hermes cabin was led by Travis and Connor Stoll. They weren't twins, but they looked so much alike it didn't matter. Neither Naruto or Percy could remember who was older, but it didn't really matter. Now the Hermes cabin was led by Travis and Connor Stoll. They weren't twins, but they looked so much alike it didn't matter. I could never remember which one was older. They were both tall and skinny, with mops of brown hair that hung in their eyes. They wore orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts untucked over baggy shorts, and they had those elfish features all Hermes's kids had: upturned eyebrows, sarcastic smiles, a gleam in their eyes whenever they looked at you—like they were about to drop a firecracker down your shirt.

Percy grinned nervously in their direction because before he left last year. He was caught in one of their pranks….one that included Naruto. The trio was the Prank Trio from Hell….especially after what happened.

As soon as the last campers had filed in, Percy led Tyson into the middle of the pavilion. Conversations faltered. Heads turned. "Who invited that?" somebody at the Apollo table murmured.

From the head table a familiar voice drawled, "Well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson. My millennium is complete."

Percy gritted his teeth. "Percy Jackson ... sir."

Mr. D sipped his Diet Coke. "Yes. Well, as you young people say these days: Whatever. Besides, we got the ninja back, so…yay." Even though some didn't trust Naruto for what happened to the tree, they were in agreement with Mr. D. Naruto was their best fighter and they too were glad he was back.

Mr. D was wearing his usual leopard-pattern Hawaiian shirt, walking shorts, and tennis shoes with black socks. With his pudgy belly and his blotchy red face, he looked like a Las Vegas tourist who'd stayed up too late in the casinos. Behind him, a nervous-looking satyr was peeling the skins off grapes and handing them to Mr. D one at a time.

Mr. D's real name is Dionysus. The god of wine. Zeus appointed him director of Camp Half-Blood to dry out for a hundred years—a punishment for chasing some off-limits wood nymph.

Next to him, where Chiron usually sat (or stood, in centaur form), was someone Naruto and Percy had never seen before—a pale, horribly thin man in a threadbare orange prisoner's jump-suit. The number over his pocket read 0001. He had blue shadows under his eyes, dirty fingernails, and badly cut gray hair, like his last haircut had been done with a weed whacker. He stared at me; his eyes made me nervous. He looked ... fractured. Angry and frustrated and hungry all at the same time.

"This boy," Dionysus told him, "you need to watch. Poseidon's child, you know."

"Ah!" the prisoner said. "That one." His tone made it obvious that he and Dionysus had already discussed Percy at length. "So….the son of death is surprisingly not the bad one?"

"No." Mr. D said. He rather like the boy, not that he would ever say it our loud. Damn kid had all the luck in card games.

"I am Tantalus," the prisoner said, smiling coldly. "On special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise. And you, Perseus Jackson, I do expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble."

"Trouble?" Percy demanded while Naruto's eye twitched when he heard that.

Dionysus snapped his fingers. A newspaper appeared on the table—the front page of today's

New York Post, There was Percy's yearbook picture from Meriwether Prep. It was hard for the water boy to make out the headline, but he had a pretty good guess what it said. Something like: Thirteen- Year-Old Lunatic Torches Gymnasium.

Naruto appeared next to Percy and said while looking at the headline. "Looks like you're in the ringer again."

"Great…just what I needed." Percy groaned while he blond friend black flashed back over to the Aphrodite table, shocking Tantalus.

"Yes, trouble," Tantalus said with satisfaction, after he recover from his shock at Naruto. "You caused plenty of it last summer, I understand." Percy was too mad to speak. This guy was pissing him off!

A satyr inched forward nervously and set a plate of bar-becue in front of Tantalus. The new activities director licked his lips. He looked at his empty goblet and said, "Root beer. Barq's special stock. 1967."

The glass filled itself with foamy soda. Tantalus stretched out his hand hesitantly, as if he were afraid the goblet was hot.

"Go on, then, old fellow," Dionysus said, a strange sparkle in his eyes. "Perhaps now it will work."

Tantalus grabbed for the glass, but it scooted away before he could touch it. A few drops of root beer spilled, and Tantalus tried to dab them up with his fingers, but the drops rolled away like quicksilver before he could touch them. He growled and turned toward the plate of barbecue. He picked up a fork and tried to stab a piece of brisket, but the plate skittered down the table and flew off the end, straight into the coals of the brazier.

"Blast!" Tantalus muttered.

"Ah, well," Dionysus said, his voice dripping with false sympathy. "Perhaps a few more days. Believe me, old chap, working at this camp will be torture enough. I'm sure your old curse will fade eventually."

"Eventually," muttered Tantalus, staring at Dionysus's Diet Coke. "Do you have any idea how dry one's throat gets after three thousand years?"

"You're that spirit from the Fields of Punishment," Percy said with wide eyes. "The one who stands in the lake with the fruit tree hanging over you, but you can't eat or drink."

Tantalus sneered at Percy. "A real scholar, aren't you, boy?"

"You must've done something really horrible when you were alive," I said, mildly impressed. "What was it?"

Tantalus's eyes narrowed. Behind him, the satyrs were shaking their heads vigorously, trying to warn the poor fool.

"I'll be watching you, Percy Jackson," Tantalus said. "I don't want any problems at my camp."

"Your camp has problems already ... sir."

"Oh, go sit down, Johnson," Dionysus sighed. "I believe that table over there is yours—the one where no one else ever wants to sit."

Percy glared at Mr. D with a red face, but he could do nothing. However, that was interrupted when they heard a snickering coming from the Aphrodite table. Mr. D looked right at the blond ninja who was making the noise. "My I ask what it is so funny, Nathan?"

"It's Naruto!" Naruto corrected with a good natured smile. "And I was just thinking that I am going to have some….fun this year. Especially with our new camp councilor." He said with a wide fox smile that made the whole camp shiver. They all knew that smile and some looked the Hermes cabin and saw that the Stroll brothers had the same smile. A prank was going to happen in the next few days. Sad thing was thought no one will ever be able to pin it on the blond….because no one ever got enough evidence. Percy kind of felt sorry for Tantalus….kind of.

Percy was glad Naruto was there to cheer him up somewhat. He turned to Tyson and said, "Come on."

"Oh, no," Tantalus said. "The monster stays here. We must decide what to do with it."

"Him," Percy snapped. "His name is Tyson."

The new activities director raised an eyebrow.

"Tyson saved the camp," Percy insisted. "He pounded those bronze bulls. Otherwise they would've burned down this whole place."

"Yes," Tantalus sighed, "and what a pity that would've been."

Dionysus snickered.

"Leave us," Tantalus ordered, "while we decide this creature's fate."

Percy grit his teeth at the order, but he knew he could not disobey it.

"I'll be right over here, big guy," Percy promised. "Don't worry. We'll find you a good place to sleep tonight."

Tyson nodded. "I believe you. You are my friend."

With that Percy trudged over his table where he was the only one to sit there. He hoped thing would be ok for his Cyclops friend. When a Wood Nymph brought over some food, he took it, but he was not hungry. He was too busy thinking on what had happened so far. But before he let it go to waste. He scraped some of it into the flames to off some to his dad. "Posiedon, accept my offering."

As he went back to his table, he looked over to Naruto, who was digging into….Ramen? That figured, that was all he had back in school. However, he really hoped that the blond made good on his 'fun' with the new camp councilor. Just as he sat down again, one of the satyr's blew the horn again, tell them all that Tantalus had more to say.

"Yes, well," Tantalus said, once the talking had died down. "Another fine meal! Or so I am told." As he spoke, he inched his hand toward his refilled dinner plate, as if maybe the food wouldn't notice what he was doing, but it did. It shot away down the table as soon as he got within six inches. This just made Naruto grin like a mad man as a good prank came to mind. Oh yes…this would be very fun!

"And here on my first day of authority," he continued, "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."

Dionysus clapped politely, leading to some halfhearted applause from the satyrs. Tyson was still standing at the head table, looking uncomfortable, but every time he tried to scoot out of the limelight, Tantalus pulled him back.

"And now some changes!" Tantalus gave the campers a crooked smile. "We are reinstituting the chariot races!"

Murmuring broke out at all the tables—excitement, fear, disbelief.

"Now I know," Tantalus continued, raising his voice, "that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems."

"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations," someone at the Apollo table called.

"Yes, yes!" Tantalus said. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"

An explosion of excited conversation—no KP for a whole month? No stable cleaning? Was he serious?

"But, sir!" Clarisse said. She looked nervous, but she stood up to speak from the Ares table. Some of the campers snickered when they saw the YOU MOO, GIRL! sign on her back. Thankfully, Naruto snapped his fingers when he saw it and it went up in black flames that never touched her. She sent a thankful smile in his direction. "What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop every-thing to ready our chariots—"

"Ah, the hero of the day," Tantalus exclaimed. "Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!"

Clarisse blinked, then blushed. "Um, I didn't—"

"You mean that you are congratulating her on her leadership in rallying what forces she could to defend the camp until more help arrived." Naruto interjected, making the girl blush even more at his kind words.

"Yes that and I suppose I should congratulate you as well for your quick thinking in battle to take one down with….whatever weird ass ninja technique you used to help her." Tantalus said with extreme boredom. "Anyway, not to worry. This is a summer camp! We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

"But the tree-" Clarisse tried to say but was cut off by the man again.

"And now," Tantalus said, as several of Clarisse's cabin mates pulled her back into her seat, "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here." Tantalus waved a hand toward Tyson.

Uneasy murmuring spread among the campers. A lot of sideways looks at Percy. The boy wanted to kill Tantalus.

"Now, of course," he said, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes's cabin, possibly?"

Silence at the Hermes table. Travis and Connor Stoll developed a sudden interest in the tablecloth. Percy couldn't blame them. The Hermes cabin was always full to bursting. There was no way they could take in a six-foot-three Cyclops.

"Come now," Tantalus chided. "The monster may be able to do some menial chores. Any suggestions as to where such a beast should be kenneled?"

Suddenly everybody gasped….well, Naruto smiled like a mad man.

Tantalus scooted away from Tyson in surprise. There above Tyson's head was the same symbol that was above Percy's head last year. The Symbol of Posiedon. Naruto smirked. At least his friend would not be lonely in his cabin and table anymore. This also meant that Tyson was probably going to be in the gang from now on.

There was a moment of awed silence.

Being claimed was a rare event. Some campers waited in vain for it their whole lives. When

Naruto and Percy had been claimed by their Godly parents last summer, everyone had reverently knelt. But now, they followed Tantalus's lead, and Tantalus roared with laughter. "Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"

Everyone laughed except for Percy, Annabeth, Naruto and a few of their friends. Naruto glared at Tantalus while thinking of horrible ways to prank the man. He already had a few.

Tyson didn't seem to notice. He was too mystified, trying to swat the glowing trident that was now fading over his head. He was too innocent to understand how much they were making fun of him, how cruel people were.

One person, who was not laughing, said the one thing that was on his mind. "This is madness!"

"Madness?" Naruto said aloud softly, but everyone heard him and raised an eyebrow before Naruto looked up with a crazy smirk. "THIS IS SPARTA!"

"YEAH!" Cheered the Ares cabin before one of them looked at Naruto in confusion. "Wait what?"

Naruto shrugged. "Sorry, I saw that movie last year and have waiting for a set up for that. Seriously." He said to the deadly quiet camp before everyone burst out laughing.

Annabeth smiled at her fellow blond. He really knew how to make a situation a bit better….even it is was for a few minutes.

**XXX**

**Well there you all go. I figured with last week's job, you all have waited long enough. I wanted to have this done by yesterday….but I am lazy. I have one prank in mind for Tantalus and it will be awesome, but can some of you give me some ideas?  
**

**REVIEW!**


	6. What is with the Demon Pigeons?

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters.**

**Chapter 6**

**What is with the freaky Demon Pigeons?**

**I want to thank everyone for the ideas, but I am using shadowwriter329's ideas. I think they are the best along with the one I thought of.**

The next few days would have been hell for the camp, but thanks to Naruto, it was actually bearable, especially after he pranked Tantalus and of course, Naruto was never caught.

Naruto smiled at what he had done to the annoying man. The morning after he had come back with the others, he did a prank that was a bit cartoonish.

_Flashback…_

Everyone was a bit tired seeing as it was still morning and mostly everyone wanted to still be asleep, but Tantalus all got them up from their peaceful sleep.

As soon as they all sat down, Naruto smirked as see saw Tantalus notice a rather good looking donut was on his plate. It had sprinkles! The girls that he was sitting with all quieted down when they saw that look and saw that he was staring at Tantalus. Soon, the somewhat quiet dining hall was extremely quiet, wondering what Naruto had in store for them today.

Mr. D. noticed all this and inwardly smirked. He really did like this blond, but not even he knew what was about to happen. Tantalus stared at the donut with sprinkles with childlike wonder, completely ignoring everything and everyone else around him as he made a grab at the piece of food that wanted so badly!

However, it hopped away like usual, but this time it was different. It suddenly grew eyes, arms, and legs. The two stared at each other in shock for a few minutes, with Tantalus trying to figure out if he had gone insane or not…well more insane than he already was. Suddenly, the donut screamed in fear. "AHHH!"

"AAHH!" Tantalus let out.

"AAAAH!"

"AAAHHH!"

This went on for about a minute as everyone just stared in shock at what they were seeing. A freaking talking and walking donut…with sprinkles was having a freaking screaming contest with Tantalus of all people.

Then it took out a top hat and cane and begun to sing in a deep voice. "Hello my baby! Hello my rag time gal! Send me a kiss by wire, baby my heart's on fire! If you refuse me, honey you'll lose me. Then you'll be left alone, oh baby! Telephone and tell me I your own! AAH!" It sang before scooped up by an annoyed Tantalus and screaming as it was about to be eaten.

However, he should have known it was too good to be true because of the fact that it went poof as soon as he bit down on it and he held his mouth in pain. There before him was a metal hockey puck with a hole in it like a donut.

It was just too much for everyone to bare as they all fell out of their seats with uncontrollable laughter, including Naruto who could not believe the man had fallen for that. Even the Satyrs and Mr. D. were in the uproar of laughter. Tantalus just grumbled to himself, intent on finding out who did that to him. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up while you can!"

_End Flashback…_

Naruto chuckled at the memory some more as he stared out onto the lake. Tantalus had been furious but he never caught the blond, the he did eye the blond for the rest of the day, with the other camper smirking at him and patting him on the back for a good wake me up.

To be honest, he got that idea after watching an old cartoon on the WB and ironically, it was a frog who sung that song.

His next few pranks made everyone laugh even harder. The day after that prank, Naruto had installed small speakers in the man's room that night and the morning he muttered random catch phrases the whole day. He had set the speakers to play commercials for all types of food from Mcdonald's and a good number of other fast food.

The man broke down after saying, "I'M LOVING IT!" for the 100th time that day. Mr. D found the man quivering behind the Big House and muttering random phrases with tears running down his face like he had gone insane.

After that, Naruto did a simple prank by setting up a fake wall that had a picture of any kind of food Tantalus loved the most. It also the smell of it as well, so much so that it made the man lose control of himself and he ran straight into it, which was quite funny to see the man face plant into it before it disappear, leaving no trace that it had been there.

The last prank he had pulled was a dinner. Naruto had place a jar of honey on the man's table before it started and the man was suspicious of it. For good reason too, because as soon as he reach for it, moved to the side like it usually did, but this time, it came with consequences. The reason for that was is because Naruto had put a bee hive into the jar and it was full of angry bees. The movement had been the final straw for the bees because they blast out of the jar and went straight for Tantalus, who tried run away…mostly to the lake, but it was still drinkable, so it parted away from him, giving him no protection for the many bee stings.

It pretty hard for anyone to eat because everytime they heard him scream like a girl throughout the woods, they had to laugh. There was one time that he even screamed out for his mommy to save him.

All in all, it had been a fun couple of days.

"Hey Naruto!" a gruff female voice called out.

Naruto turned and smiled when he saw his friend Clarisse stand behind him. "Hey. What's up?"

"I want you to be my partner in the chariot races that is in a few days." Clarisse said, not giving much room for argument. "I mean, the kids of War and Death is a pretty bad ass combination, right?"

Naruto chuckled. She made a valid point. It was like they were meant to win a contest like this. "Sure, I have no problem with that."

Clarisse smiled. "Cool, now let's make sure we win this!" She said as they went to work.

XXX

Currently, Naruto was working a pet project of his, the Hell Bike, in the Hephaestus work shop. Since he was good making things, he was welcomed there anytime he wanted. So far, he was half done.

He didn't get a chance to work on it yesterday because he worked on his and Clarisse's chariot while also sparing with Percy since the boy could not get a decent spar. He could understand why the boy didn't want to fight Clarisse though. She was a bit rough after all, however, so was he.

Another thing he pondered on was Tyson. The young Cyclops was a good guy and he was really handy. Hell, Beckendorf got the guy working in the workshop. He wondered what the big guy was making.

"Naruto? You in there?" came the voice of Annabeth.

"Yeah." Naruto said as he put down his tools and got up to see his fellow blond. "Whatcha need?"

"I was wondering if you wanted me as your partner for the chariot races." The girl said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "You and Percy have a fight or something?"

"How could you tell?"

"Simple. You don't look happy and I thought you were doing to do the race with him since you make a good team." Naruto said truthfully.

"We had a fight…about his half-brother and we decided to do this separately. He was defending Tyson and I was just getting anger because of…past experiences."

"Yeah I figured as much. You seemed wary of the big baby." Naruto said with a chuckle before his face went serious. "Thalia told me what happened the last time I talked to her. I understand your….wariness of the guy, but give him a chance. Not everything is the same."

"I know…" Annabeth said sadly before she locked eyes with the blond. "You saying that from experience?"

"Hell yeah." Naruto said. "Mostly from my time as a Jinchuriki. I proved that I was a good gu while most people think that Jinchuriki are evil because of what we hold. So, just give the guy a chance….if not for me, then for Percy."

Annabeth smiled, Naruto was right. "Thanks, I'll try." She said, happy to have a friend like him. "So you didn't answer my question."

"Yeah sorry about that, but I already have a partner. Clarisse." Naruto said, making the girl shiver.

"Oh geez!" Annabeth said, "That is a match made in hell! You guys are going to be tough to beat."

"Heh, that's the point." Naruto said with a smirk. The he had a look on his face like he just remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot!" Naruto then rushed over to his work bench and picked up and rather odd and wicked looking short sword with strange red designs in the middle of the blade. "This is the Blade of Athena, heck I even got Athena bless it with her power." She said as he handed the blade to her.

It looked a bit heavy, but it was the perfect weight for the girl as she examined the blade. "You made this…for me?"

"Well yeah." Naruto said. "I am making weapons for all my friends."

"The name sounds familiar."

"It should, it is basically the weapon of choice in the God of War 3 game. Although, Athena never told me was special power yours has, guess you will just have to figure that out on your own. And if you become proficient in using that, I will make the other one for you."

Annabeth smiled again. Naruto really was a good guy. "Thanks Naruto."

"No problem. Can't be using just that dinky little dagger for the rest your life." Naruto said. "Besides, with your skill in battle, I am sure you'll figure out a way to use both in battle."

"You bet!" Annabeth chuckled before she got up. "Well, I better get back to the others if we want to get our chariot done." She said before giving her fellow blond a hug and then leaving the room so that he could continue his work.

"Well, this should be interesting." Naruto said before he looked to the other side the room where a giant block of metal stood. "Might well get started on Beckendorf's new weapon." He then looked at the weapon designs that he had on the work bench. "Still….what should I make for Percy?"

XXX

Later that night, he had a strange dream. It was like the other dreams he and Percy have been having about Grover….who was always in a freaking wedding dress!

It didn't fit him very well. The gown was too long and the hem was caked with dried mud. The neckline kept falling off his shoulders. A tattered veil covered his face.

He was standing in a dank cave, lit only by torches. There was a cot in one corner and an old fashioned loom in the other, a length of white cloth half woven on the frame. And he was staring right at the two boys, like it was a TV pro-gram he'd been waiting for. "Thank the gods!" he yelped. "Can you two hear me?"

Percy was slow to respond, still not believing what he was seeing…even in his dream. However, Naruto, who was used to this type of stuff thanks to his Limbo power, answered, "Wow, talk about interactive."

"Funny." Grover deadpanned. "Percy! Please respond. Can you hear me as well?"

"I hear you," Percy said. "Grover, what's going on?"

From behind the boulder, a monstrous voice yelled, "Honeypie! Are you done yet?"

Grover flinched. He called out in falsetto, "Not quite, dearest! A few more days!"

"Bah! Hasn't it been two weeks yet?"

"N-no, dearest. Just five days. That leaves twelve more to go."

The monster was silent, maybe trying to do the math. He must've been worse at arithmetic than I was, because he said, "All right, but hurry! I want to SEEEEE under that veil, heh-hehheh."

"Oh man. What have you gotten yourself into that you are the girl in the relationship?" Naruto laughed.

"Cut the crap!" Grover roared, a bit freaked out as he turned back to the two boys. "You have to help me! No time! I'm stuck in this cave. On an island in the sea."

"Yeah, that's helpful." Naruto deadpanned.

"Where?" asked Percy.

"I don't know exactly! I went to Florida and turned left."

"Wait what?" Both boys asked, not getting it.

"It's a trap!" Grover said. "It's the reason no satyr has ever returned from this quest. He's a shepherd, Percy! And he has it. Its nature magic is so powerful it smells just like the great god

Pan! The satyrs come here thinking they've found Pan, and they get trapped and eaten by Polyphemus!"

"Poly-who?" asked Percy.

Naruto groaned. "_That_ giant Cyclopes."

"Right!" Grover said hurriedly. "I almost got away. I made it all the way to St. Augustine."

"But he followed you," Percy said, remembering the first dream. "And trapped you in a bridal boutique."

"You have to admit that is kind of funny." Naruto said with a chuckle. "It gave you the perfect disguise, but also screwed you over as well."

"Don't remind me." Grover cried. "My first empathy link with the two of you must've worked then. Look, this bridal dress is the only thing keeping me alive. He thinks I smell good, but I told him it was just goat-scented perfume. Thank goodness he can't see very well. His eye is still half blind from the last time somebody poked it out. But soon he'll realize what I am. He's only giving me two weeks to finish the bridal train, and he's getting impatient!"

"Wait a minute. This Cyclops thinks you're—"

"Yes!" Grover wailed. "He thinks I'm a lady Cyclops and he wants to marry me!"

The two stared at their goat like friend in seriousness. It would have been funny if he was joking, but Grover sounded as scared as hell.

"What can we do to help?" Naruto asked with a grim expression. He can be a joker most of the time, be he knew when to be serious.

"I am in the Sea of Monster! GET ME OUTTA HERE!" Grover cried, making Naruto's eye twitch that his friend had gotten stuck there of all places.

"Where is that?" asked Percy, confused as hell.

Naruto groaned. "The way you described how you got there, it sounds like you are actually in the Bermuda Triangle."

"That's your best bet." Grover said before he looked at them nervously. "And, I am sorry about this you guys, but this empathy link ... well, I had no choice. Our emotions are connected now. If I die ..."

"Don't tell me, we'll die too." Percy deadpanned.

"Oh great. No pressure there." Naruto grumbled.

"Oh, well, perhaps not. You might live for years in a vegetative state. But, uh, it would be a lot better if you got me out of here." Grover said, making Naruto's eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

"Honeypie!" the monster bellowed. "Dinnertime! Yummy yummy sheep meat!"

Grover whimpered. "I have to go. Hurry!"

"Wait! You said 'it' was here. What?"

But Grover's voice was already growing fainter. "Sweet dreams. Don't let me die!"

With that, Grover disappeared from the dream, but Percy and Naruto was still there. "What did he mean though?"

"Well, he did say it held a lot of Nature Energy, so it must be important." Naruto said before he looked to the Son of Poseidon. "Percy, let's wait to tell Annabeth and the others about this later. Knowing Tantalus, he won't care. So let's make sure either one of us win that race tomorrow. We could say that we want a quest to save Grover's ass."

"Right. Good Luck." Percy said.

Naruto smirked. "You too Water Boy." Naruto said before he too disappeared from the dream.

XXX

The morning of the race was hot and humid. Fog lay low on the ground like sauna steam. Millions of birds were roosting in the trees—fat gray-and-white pigeons, except they didn't coo like regular pigeons. They made this annoying metallic screeching sound that reminded them of submarine radar.

The racetrack had been built in a grassy field between the archery range and the woods. Hephaestus's cabin had used the bronze bulls, which were completely tame since they'd had their heads smashed in and their back blown out, to plow an oval track in a matter of minutes.

There were rows of stone steps for the spectators— Tantalus, the satyrs, a few dryads, and all of the campers who weren't participating. Mr. D didn't show. He never got up before ten o'clock.

"Right!" Tantalus announced as the teams began to assemble. His right eye and pretty much that part of his face would twitch thanks to Naruto's pranks. He still had the bee stings as well. A naiad had brought him a big platter of pastries, and as Tantalus spoke, his right hand chased a chocolate eclair across the judge's table. "You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody!" Tantalus smiled at them like they were all naughty children. "Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at the campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"

_That's harsh? _Naruto thought.

Beckendorf led the Hephaestus team onto the track. They had a sweet ride made of bronze and iron—even the horses, which were magical automatons like the Colchis bulls. They had no doubt that their chariot had all kinds of mechanical traps and more fancy options than a fully loaded Maserati.

Since Naruto and Clarisse were partners, their chariot was pretty wicked looking. It was basically the freaky face chariot that one would see in the Hercules movie that Hades flew on to free the Titans. However, the face was blood red while rest of it looked black, even the wing like attachments. It also looked like it had black energy raising off of it. The skeletal horses were the same way. It was full of nasty toys to make sure they won, making Percy and a lot of other pale.

Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. Their fighter was armed with a bow, though he had promised not to shoot regular pointed arrows at the opposing drivers.

Hermes's chariot was green and kind of old-looking, as if it hadn't been out of the garage in years. It didn't look like anything special, but it was manned by the Stoll brothers, and Percy shuddered to think what dirty tricks they'd schemed up. Especially if Naruto had teamed up with them.

That left Annabeth's and Percy's. Naruto looked to see them arguing and the blond say Annabeth pale a bit at one thing he said. "Geez, I tell him to wait and goes and does what he wants. Meh, I am not surprised." Naruto mumbled out. "I can only assume she knows now."

"Who knows what?" Clarisse asked as she got in the chariot.

"Oh Percy told Annabeth something from last night. Let's just say we have more of a reason to win now." Naruto said. Getting a questioning looked he elaborated. "Grover is in trouble, he told us through an Empathy link….or whatever the hell that thing is called." Clarisse's eyes widened in understand before she nodded. She was more determined to win now…mostly for her friend.

The conch horn sounded.

"Charioteers!" Tantalus called. "To your mark!"

Naruto and Clarisse gain a determined look on their face as they got ready to the race to begin. Clarisse was driving while he was fighting since he was the better fight, being a ninja and all. She did not seem to have a problem with that.

Looking around, he saw a multitude of odd looking evil pigeons on the edge of the track, surrounding them. He noticed that he himself and Percy were the only ones that noticed them. How the hell was that possible? "Please tell me you see those birds."

"Yeah, just ignore them." Clarisse said. "They won't attack unless provoked. They are called Stymphalian birds."

"Oh joy." Naruto deadpanned. He knew about these birds. They were evil birds that when they attacked someone, took everything but the bone.

Soon, Tantalus signal for them all to go and go they did. They all shot off, determined to win as well.

However, they soon found out that this race was more of survival instead of what they first thought because the birds attacked. "You were saying?" Naruto deadpanned to his partner, who had a freaked out expression on her face.

"Just shut up and kill those things!" Clarisse barked.

Naruto nodded as he saw a few of the birds heading for them. Some of the birds went to the skeletal horses, trying to peck their non-existent eyes out. The blond smirked as he took out fear and destruction to slice away at the violent birds.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Beckendorf get mobbed. His fighter tried to bat the birds away but he couldn't see anything. The chariot veered off course and plowed through the strawberry fields, the mechanical horses steaming. It was basically the same for the other chariots except for Percy's and Annabeth's, who seemed to be planning something to get rid of the annoying birds. He saw them head for the Big House to get something.

Seeing that most of the competitors were gone from this little race and were fighting for their lives, Naruto decided to help out a bit. He put away his sword once the birds around them were pretty much gone and took out ten kunai with explosive note attached to them. Clarisse saw this and yelled, "The hell are you doing!"

"Cooking us up some pigeon meat!' Naruto joked around with a smiled before he threw the kunai outward. "**Shadow Kunai Jutsu!"** The blond smirked as the ten become fifty and explosion rockets the air and ground as the demon pigeon began to drop like flies, but there were still more. "Dang...i was gunning for hundred...my chakra is still a bit messed up.

Thankfully, Percy and Annabeth decided to return and put on some music. Naruto smirked, Annabeth really knew her stuff. Back in the day, Hercules uses sound to drive them off and it was still working. On a side note, He saw that Tantalus wasn't really do anything but chasing around some food like a mad man.

The blond's friends used Chiron's CD, the All-Time Greatest Hits of Dean Martin, began to play. Suddenly the air was filled with violins and a bunch of guys moaning in Italian.

The demon pigeons went nuts. They started flying in circles, running into each other like they wanted to bash their own brains out. Then they abandoned the track altogether and flew skyward in a huge dark wave.

"Dang! It's a mad house!" Naruto shouted above the music and screeching of the birds, making Clarisse laugh at she joke as she drove.

"Now!" shouted Annabeth. "Archers!"

With clear targets, Apollo's archers had flawless aim. Most of them could nock five or six arrows at once. Within minutes, the ground was littered with dead bronze-beaked pigeons, and the survivors were a distant trail of smoke on the horizon.

The camp was saved, but the wreckage wasn't pretty. Most of the chariots had been completely destroyed. Almost everyone was wounded, bleeding from multiple bird pecks. The kids from Aphrodite's cabin were screaming because their hairdos had been ruined and their clothes pooped on. Some of them were even complaining how Naruto was going to haze them about it.

"Bravo!" Tantalus said, but he wasn't looking at Percy or Annabeth. "We have our first winners!"

He finish the line and awarded the golden laurels for the race to a stunned-looking Clarisse and Naruto. They were the last ones in the races and actually won…..so Tantalus awarded them, seeming to spite Percy and Annabeth.

Then Tantalus turned and smiled at Percy, which was a bit creepy. "And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted this race."

Naruto gained a dead panned expression. "You have got to be kidding me."

XXX

**Well, there you all go. Another chapter. Hope you all liked it. I am going to be revising the Prophecy for this book….it is going to include Naruto.  
I also plan on releasing a Naruto/Fairy Tail crossover in the near future...prolly when i am done with Cyberspace.  
**

**Review!**


	7. Tantalus hates children!

**NPU: Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 7**

"You know." Tantalus started, "Those vicious birds would not have attacked us if Percy and Annabeth could drive their chariots correctly! They were minding their own business after all."

"What!" Percy and Annabeth shouted angrily.

"Now that is a load of bull." Naruto growled.

"Well the noise you two created drove them mad, what did you expect. I would hate to see you two drive those cars, that mortals drive." Tantalus groaned.

Naruto gained a twitching eyebrow at the jab at his friends and could see Percy and Annabeth were getting pissed. That much was clear with their red faces. "Oh, go chase another singing donut!" Percy shouted, making the blond inwardly groan.

Tantalus' face was not red from anger and he would not stand for this type of disrespect. He then gained an evil smile. "Well, if that is how you feel, then I am giving the three of you kitchen patrol! You brats get to scrub the pots and plates for the rest of the afternoon. Oh and try not to melt your hands off. HA!"

The man then turned to the rest of the camp and smiled. "Now to celebrate, we are having a special luncheon banquet for our winners. Clarisse and Naruto! A full course meal featuring country fried Stymphalian death-bird." The whole camp seemed to perk up this but they did feel sorry for Percy, Annabeth, and even Tyson.

Naruto walked up to his friends and sighed. "Percy….that was pretty cool."

"Yeah, not I have to pay for it." Percy grumbled.

"No, _we _have to pay for your big mouth!" Annabeth said angrily.

Naruto grimaced at that and said, "Yeah….good luck with that man."

XXX

While Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson were working in the underground kitchen with the harpies and trying not to melt their hands off because of the harpies use lava to wash dishes, Naruto was sitting at Clarisse's table for lunch since he was invited by the girl.

He had told them about this dream about Grover and the table was in deep thought. Most of them did not know the goat boy that well and could not give him an answer. Clarisse spoke up though, "Maybe he found something. I am not sure because I really don't know. Your best bet to go and ask Mr. D about it."

"Heh, I will." Naruto said but didn't get up. "First…I am going to EAT!" The whole table smirked and cheered at that before they all dug in.

XXX

"So you say Grover was in florida before he was captured by that idiot Cyclopes?" Mr. D asked, a bit annoyed as he and a few Satyrs played a card game.

"Yeah."

"And he says IT is here." Mr. D asked again.

"Yeah." Naruto answered again.

"Well." Mr. D started before he was cut off by a smart ass remark from Naruto.

"Man that is a deep subject."

The Wine God actually smirked at that. He might use that line later on. "Anyway, it seems that Grover has found a powerful object that can help us."

"Question is…what?"

Mr. D stared at Naruto before saying, "Let me tell you a story and then you will know. There were these two children of Zeus, Cadmus and Europa, okay? They were about to get offered up as human sacrifices, when they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool, which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor. Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa fell off and died along the way, but that's not important."

"Heh, might have been for her. She did die after all." Naruto commented. "I wonder if I'll ever see her in the Underworld."

"Who knows." Mr. D grumbled as he lost his hand in the game of cards. "Now shut up and listen. When Cadmus got to Colchis, he sacrificed the golden ram to the gods and hung the Fleece in a tree in the middle of the kingdom. The Fleece brought prosperity to the land. Animals stopped getting sick. Plants grew bet-ter. Farmers had bumper crops. Plagues never visited. That's why Jason wanted the Fleece. It can revitalize any land where it's placed. It cures sickness, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution…you know, all that good stuff."

Naruto's eyes widened at that. "I see. So this Golden Fleece is what we will find when we find Grover. With something like that, we can cure Thalia's Tree and strengthen the boarders around camp."

"Correct, boy." Mr. D said. "But the problem is, that the damn thing has been missing for centuries! How Grover found it was beyond luck."

"Right. The point is, is that he found it." Naruto said before he smiled. "And knowing Annabeth, she probably told Percy about all of this in the kitchen and Percy will probably want a quest to find it."

"True." Mr. D groaned. "However, I doubt Tantalus will give it to him. However, he will have to give it to someone."

"I'll go with whoever it is then. I need to save Thalia." Naruto said with determination in his eyes.

"Good to know, but do you know where to look?" Mr. D asked.

That stumped Naruto. Even if they did get a quest for this….where in Florida would they look? Suddenly the words of the Grey Sisters hit him and he asked, "Do we have a map?"

"Yeah…here." The Wine God said and in a poof of smoke, it was on the table, the card game long forgotten because of the conversation. As Naruto's eyes scanned the map, mostly in the Florida region, Mr. D looked on curiously. "What are you looking for?"

"The Grey Sisters gave us a set of numbers before they got the hell out of dodge. I think they are latitude and longitude coordinates." Naruto said before he went to the spot to find it in the ocean. "Great….in the middle of the ocean,"

"Oh…I don't think so. Think about that area." Mr. D offered.

Naruto looked at it more closely with all the small islands near Florida. It could be anywhere….but why in the middle of the…. "No freaking way. The Bermuda Triangle! The Sea of Monsters in the Bermuda Triangle?" He almost shouted as he remembered all the stories he had heard about that place. It did make sense.

"It would seem so." Mr. D said. "Now get out of here so I can finish me game!"

Naruto chuckled at that. "Ok. Man this will be fun….after all we will be in the best vacation spot in the world. Oh yeah, this will be fun! Aruba, Jamaica, oh I wanna take ya." Naruto sang as he waked away…with Mr. D rolling his eyes, wishing he could be there instead of at the damn camp.

XXX

That night at the campfire, Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. They tried to get everybody' spirits up, but it wasn't easy after that afternoon's bird attack. They all sat around a semicircle of stone steps, singing halfheartedly and watching the bonfire blaze while the Apollo guys strummed their guitars and picked their lyres.

They did all the standard camp numbers: "Down by the Aegean," "I Am My Own Great-Great-

Great-Great-Grandpa," "This Land is Minos's Land." The bonfire was enchanted, so the louder you sang, the higher it rose, changing color and heat with the mood of the crowd. Naruto's songs usually had the desired affect because he usually got the whole camp to sing and that made the fire go twenty feet high, perfect for roasting marshmallows.

Dionysus left early. After suffering through a few songs, he muttered something about how even pinochle with Chiron had been more exciting than this. Then he gave Tantalus a distasteful look and headed back toward the Big House, but not before nodding to Naruto.

When the last song was over, Tantalus said, "Well, that was lovely!"

He came forward with a toasted marshmallow on a stick and tried to pluck it off, real casuallike. But before he could touch it, the marshmallow flew off the stick. Tantalus made a wild grab, but the marshmallow committed suicide, diving into the flames. That actually made Naruto smile, it was a good pick me up to watch Tantalus try and it something. It wasn't as funny as Tom and Jerry, it was good entertainment.

Tantalus turned back toward the group, smiling coldly. "Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."

"Sir." Percy cut in, making Naruto smirk. Now was the time.

Tantalus's eye twitched. "Our kitchen boy has something to say?"

Some of the Ares campers snickered, but Percy wasn't going to let anybody embarrass him into silence. He stood and looked at Annabeth. Thank the gods, she stood up with him. He then looked to Naruto and the blond nodded. It seemed that Naruto knew something and was pushing for Percy to come out it with already. He had to smile at that. "We have an idea to save the camp."

Dead silence, but He could tell he had gotten everybody's interest, because the campfire flared bright yellow.

"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots—"

"The Golden Fleece," Percy said. "We know where it is."

The flames burned orange. Before Tantalus could stop him, he blurted out the dream about Grover and Polyphemus's island, with Naruto confirming because he was connected as well. Annabeth stepped in and reminded everybody what the Fleece could do. It sounded more convincing coming from her.

"The Fleece can save the camp," she concluded. "I'm certain of it."

"Nonsense," said Tantalus. "We don't need saving." Everybody stared at him until Tantalus started looking uncomfortable.

"heh, he must really want to go back to hell." Naruto muttered andit was loud enough for some to laugh at, but thankfully Tantalus didn't hear it.

"Besides," the man added quickly, "the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

"Actually we do." Naruto said, getting a smirk from Percy.

"You do?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, you can thank the Grey Sisters for that. Tell them Percy."

The son of Poseidon smiled. It seemed that Naruto found out about the plan as well. He should have known. "30, 31, 75, 12,"

"Ooo-kay," Tantalus said. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."

"They're sailing coordinates," Percy said. "Latitude and longitude. we, uh, learned about it in social studies."

"Oh yeah." Naruto said randomly. "I somehow passed that test….even though I didn't study for it."

There was a collective sweat drop at that. Annabeth shook her head while Percy snorted. It was pure luck in his opinion. Annabeth then smiled. If both Naruto and Percy had figured that out, she was impressed. "30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. Their right! The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"

"Wait just a minute," Tantalus said.

But the campers took up the chant. "We need a quest! We need a quest!"

The flames rose higher.

"It isn't necessary!" Tantalus insisted.

"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!"

"You can't escape this, Tantalus." Naruto said with a smirk, which made the man's eye twitch because the blond was right.

"Fine!" Tantalus shouted, his eyes blazing with anger. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

"YES!"

"Very well," he agreed. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying."

Finally they were getting somewhere. Percy was so happy about this, they were going to help the camp again! Naruto smiled, it was about to get interesting again he was sure they were going to need his help.

"I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle!" Tantalus announced. "And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious."

Tantalus looked at Annabeth, Percy, and Naruto as if he wanted to flay them alive. "The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. You shall lead this quest ... Clarisse!"

The fire flickered a thousand different colors. The Ares cabin started stomping and cheering, "CLARISSE! CLARISSE!" Naruto quirked an eyebrow, but smiled all the same. He might be able to help out after all. Still what would this do for Percy.

Clarisse stood up, looking stunned. Then she swallowed, and her chest swelled with pride. "I accept the quest!"

"Wait!" Percy shouted. "Grover is my friend. The dream came to me and Naruto."

"Sit down!" yelled one of the Ares campers. "You had your chance last summer!"

"Yeah, he just wants to be in the spotlight again!" another said.

Clarisse glared at me. "I accept the quest!" she repeated. "I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"

The Ares campers cheered even louder. Annabeth protested, and the other Athena campers joined in. Everybody else started taking sides—shouting and arguing and throwing marshmallows. Naruto sighed and kept quiet as he observed the scene.

Tantalus shouted, "Silence, you brats!" The tone he used creeped out Naruto and stunned Percy.

Sit down!" he ordered. "And I will tell you a ghost story." Naruto narrowed his eyes, the way he said that, meant it was not just a ghost story….he felt he was going to learn something about this man and why he was put under that curse.

"Once upon a time there was a mortal king who was beloved of the Gods!" Tantalus put his hand on his chest, and many got the feeling he was talking about himself.

"This king," he said, "was even allowed to feast on Mount Olympus. But when he tried to take some ambrosia and nectar back to earth to figure out the recipe—just one little doggie bag, mind you—the gods punished him. They banned him from their halls forever! His own people mocked him! His children scolded him! And, oh yes, campers, he had horrible children. Children—just—like— you."

He pointed a crooked finger at several people in the audience, including Naruto and Percy.

"Do you know what he did to his ungrateful children?" Tantalus asked softly. "Do you know how he paid back the gods for their cruel punishment? He invited the Olympians to a feast at his palace, just to show there were no hard feelings. No one noticed that his children were missing. And when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you guess what was in the stew?"

No one dared answer. The firelight glowed dark blue, reflecting evilly on Tantalus's crooked face. However, Naruto looked pissed. He was feeling so much rage at what Tantalus had done to his own flesh and blood that the fire also took on a red tint in the blue. His father did do enough to torture this man…no, monster.

"Oh, the gods punished him in the afterlife," Tantalus croaked. "They did indeed. But he'd had his moment of satisfaction, hadn't he? His children never again spoke back to him or questioned his authority. And do you know what? Rumor has it that the king's spirit now dwells at this very camp, waiting for a chance to take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children. And so ... are there any more complaints, before we send Clarisse off on her quest?"

Silence.

Tantalus nodded at Clarisse. "The Oracle, my dear. Go on."

She shifted uncomfortably, like even she didn't want glory at the price of being Tantalus's pet. However, she got a few words out. "I…am talking Naruto with me and that is it."

"GO!" Tantalus snarled, not happy.

She bowed awkwardly and hurried off toward the Big House, but not before motioning for Naruto to follow her, which he did quickly before he did something to that creature he was regret.

However, he did hear what Tantalus had to say next.

"What about you, Percy Jackson?" Tantalus asked. "No comments from our dishwasher?"

There was no answer. It seemed he was not going to give this sick….monster the satisfaction of an answer. Naruto had to smile at that. So before he was too far away, he created a shadow clone to observe the rest of the conversation before he ran to where his partner for this quest was.

"Good," Tantalus said. "And let me remind everyone— no one leaves this camp without my permission. Anyone who tries ... well, if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night, my dear campers. Sleep well."

With a wave of Tantalus's hand, the fire was extinguished, and the campers trailed off toward their cabins in the dark.

The Naruto clone walked up next to the water boy and asked, "So, are you going anyway?"

Percy looked to his blond friend. He knew this must be a clone since he knows that Naruto is with Clarisse in the big house. He looked at his friend's clone and could not help but feel a little jealous. Naruto was going on the quest to save the camp and he wasn't. But, he didn't feel that way for long because he figured the blond was doing this more for Thalia then for the camp….and he could understand that. "I don't know."

"You know, I won't stop you." The clone said. "I know you are stubborn and want to help the camp, which it good. If you go and we find you, I will back you up…just like always."

Percy smiled. Naruto was one of the best friends he could ever have. "Thanks Naruto."

"No problem." The clone said with a smile and he watch as Percy trudged off toward his cabin, however, he did not disperse. The original wanted him to make sure if Percy went or not.

XXX

Clarisse was a bit scared after the tale that Tantalus told them about and walking at night to the Big House where the creepy Oracle lived would make anyone scare shitless. She is just glad she has her crush with her. Turning to him, she smiled. "Thanks for taking up the offer of coming with me."

"It was an offer? It felt more like a demand" Naruto asked smartly, which earned him a punch in the shoulder.

"You idiot. You could have said no." Clarisse grumbled.

"Yeah, but I like to help my friends. So sue me." Naruto countered with a smirk.

"And that is why I asked you to join me." The daughter of Ares replied before they both noticed that were at the door to the Oracle. She took a deep breath and said, "Here goes nothing."

Naruto offered a smile as he opened the door for her and they both went in. the blond felt a chill run up his spine. The Oracle freaked him the fuck out the first time he went with Percy…now he had to deal with it again.

Once again the green mist spewed out of the Oracle's mouth and it turned into the image of Ares….her father.

_"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,_

_You shall find what you seek and make it your own,_

_But despair for your life entombed within stone,_

_And fail without friends, to fly home._

_Know this, the journey will not be easy,_

_The Son of Death must fight his enemy._

_The lost son of Echidna will be revealed."_

When it was over, the two quickly made their way out of the Big House and to the circle of cabin. Clarisse turned to her friend with a smile. "This is going to be a tough quest, you better be ready."

"You know I will be, but you have to wonder. Who am I going to have to fight?" Naruto said.

"Well….the children of Echidna are tricky, so who knows."

"Yeah." Naruto said while scratching the back of his head. "You know, I am already in deep shit with his for killing the fox, I highly doubt she will be happy with me when I beat the next kid she sends after me."

"Oh yeah…this is going to be interesting." Clarisse said with a laugh before she said good night and went in her cabin.

As Naruto walked to the Aphrodite cabin, he stopped because he gained the memories of his clone. He smirked. "Well….it seems you guys are going after all. See you there…just don't get lost. Man, Hermes is a genius…though the two snakes are weird." He said to himself before he made his way in the cabin.

XXX

Echidna observed two people in an underground lair. One was a snake like man with Sound Attire on. The other had the same clothes, but he was much younger and had a permanent scowl on his face. They were Orochimaru and Sasuke Uchiha and it seemed that they were at a standoff, but from what she didn't not know, nor cared.

Orochimaru's eyes cut to the woman, who was in her true form, a snake like woman. "Who are you and how did you get in?" he asked, wary of this strange woman. Sasuke just eyed the woman with distaste.

"I have come….for my son." Echidna replied with a devilish smile.

XXXX

**And cut! There you all go. Sorry about the late update. **

**Review!**


	8. On the Road Again!

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 8**

**On the Road Again**

**Aw you know what, screw it. It will be a three girl harem. Naruto/Thalia/Clarisse/Zoe. However, Clarisse will try and get him in this story, but he will turn her down because it would be conflicting with his crush for Thalia. It will probably happen in the Third or Fourth Book because Thalia will see that Clarisse likes Naruto as well and relent in sharing the boy. It will make some drama, but she will reluctantly accept Zoe as well. As for Bianca, WHY? They are kinda brother and sister….well half siblings. GIVE ME A GOOD REASON! Plus, I have a way to save her and keep to the story line of the books! Also, Clarisse is hotter in my story then in the books. **

Naruto had woken up early to work in his work shop again. Mostly on his Hell Bike as he like to call it. He did not know when Clarisse wanted to leave, so it was the perfect time to do some work. Selina was also nice enough to help him pack for the trip as well and she seemed rather happy that he was going on the quest with the daughter of Ares.

Odd, must be a girl thing. Of course, he was still oblivious when it came to girls liking him. Sure he could see it for other people, but him, no way. Well, that is not entirely true. He had strong feelings for Thalia and he could tell she liked him as well.

His head snapped up at that thought and banged his head against the engine of the Hell Bike. "SON OF A BITCH!" He screamed in pain.

"You ok Naruto?" Beckendorf asked as he popped his head in the room. He too was working early.

"Yeah, just banged my head against the engine." Naruto growled through the pain as he held his head.

"Ouch." Beckendorf winced.

"Well, I guess this will be only work I can get done for a bit." Naruto said as he stood and wiped his hands….and head free of grease.

"Heh, you ready for a quest with War Girl?"

"As I'll ever be. Besides, she not all that bad." Naruto said with a smile. "Not sure when she wants to leave, but I might as well go and see Thalia before I go."

"Oh that reminds me, she did come to me and said to tell you that you guys are leaving at 10." Beckendorf stated.

Naruto looked at the clock and saw that it was now 9 o clock. Well he still had an hour. With a nod of his head, he left, leaving Beckendorf at that shop alone. Said teen sigh when he heard the door close. "That guy is going to drive himself insane if he can't get that girl out of the tree. Hope Clarisse can knock some sense into him."

XXX

Clarisse sighed as she gazed out onto the lake. This was her first quest and she going on in with her crush. Odd thing to have in her opinion. Still, she liked him a lot and could not figure out why he would prefer tree girl, but she hoped she could catch his attention. However, this crush was conflicting with her aggressive nature.

A few wood nymphs watched the girl with knowing smirks on their faces.

"How the hell would this even work!" Clarisse growled. She was not good with relationships, even watching them on TV had confused her about what to do! However, she felt on odd urge hit her and she began to sing. And she was pretty good. 'If there's a prize for rotten judgment, I guess I've already won that! No man is worth the aggravation, that's ancient history, been there, done that!"

Somehow, music began to play from the trees and five wood nymphs danced out, singing as well, "Who'd'ya think you're kiddin',He's the Earth and heaven to you. Try to keep it hidden, Honey, we can see right through you, Girl, ya can't conceal it, We know how ya feel and Who you're thinking of."

Clarisse seemed to get angry as her mixed emotions ran through her. "No chance, no way. I won't say it, no, no!"

Somewhere up above, Aphrodite was giving off a shit eating grin as she watched the girl that was in love with her grandson. Oh he was such good entertainment, just like that Percy boy. Hell, she just set this girl up with the music as well. It was too funny! The wood nymphs smiled and sang, "You swoon, you sigh, why deny it, uh-oh"

"It's too cliché, I won't say I'm in love." Clarisse sang before she looked out on the lake once more and thought about this one boy she had a crush on when she thought she was a normal person. "I thought my heart had learned its lesson, It feels so good when you start out. My head is screaming get a grip, girl. Unless you're dying to cry your heart out. Oh!"

The nymphs sang again, "You keep on denying, Who you are and how you're feeling. Baby, we're not buying. Hon, we saw ya hit the ceiling, Face it like a grown-up. When ya gonna own up, That ya got, got, got it bad.

"No chance, now way. I won't say it, no, no." The girl sang again before she thought about the blond again and grinned.

"Give up, give in. Check the grin you're in love"

Clarisse head the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "This won't play, I won't say I am in love."

"You're doin flips read our lips, You're in love!"

"You're way off base, I won't say it. Get off my case, I won't say it!"

"Girl, don't be proud. It's O.K. you're in love" The wood nymphs sang as they made their way back into the forest.

Clarisse smiled as she picked up a nearby flower and sang, "Oh. At least out loud, I won't say I'm in love." That is when she finally noticed that she was singing and accidently crushed the flower. "HOLY CRAP! The singing is contagious!" She screamed before she glared at the forest. "If anyone of you tell anybody about this, I will burn you all to the ground!"

With that said, she left to get to the spot where she would meet her partner/crush.

XXX

Naruto looked around as he heard noise or was it singing in the distance. "Anyone else hear singing?" He asked aloud. Some of his Aphrodite cabin mates smacked their heads. They knew, but they were not going to tell the oblivious blond.

Shrugging, the blond made his way up Half Blood Hill and made it to the sickly looking tree. He looked at it sadly before put a hand to it and he immersed himself in the now chaotic limbo world. Instead of the usual white background, it was purple and stormy. Not a good place to be in.

Looking around, he spit Thalia holding herself and crying in pain. However, it was not as loud as before, but it still hurt him to see her like this. Quickly walking up to her, he enveloped her in a hug and said, "Hey."

"Hey yourself." She said in a strained, but happy voice. "It is good to see you. Any news?"

"I have some good news. We found a way to get the poison out." Naruto said as he held her.

"W-what's the way?"

"The Golden Fleece. We just have to go the Sea of Monsters in the Bermuda Triangle." Naruto informed her.

Thalia seemed to wince at that. She had heard stories about that place and none of them were good. "Are you going by yourself?"

"No, Clarisse, daughter of Ares actually go the quest after we won a chariot race. She agreed to let me tag along." Naruto said.

Thalia rolled her eyes at that. He had told her along about his friend from the Ares cabin and even she could tell that the girl liked Naruto. She could not blame her though, Naruto was one of a kind. She had even fallen for him. "That's great!"

"Well before I go, I should at least take out some more of the poison." Naruto said as he begun to do that, but was stopped by her voice.

"No! You are going to need your strength for this quest." Thalia said with a weak smile. "I'll be fine as long as you get what you are looking for. Don't worry about me."

Naruto rose an eyebrow at that. "It is hard not to." He said softly.

Thalia smiled, "I know. You are very caring person, that's why…" She trailed off.

"What's wa-" Naruto tried to say but was cut off by Thalia leaning up and weakly kissing him on the lips.

"You are always there for me." Thalia replied as she broke the kiss. "I can hear what is going outside the tree and Luke, one of my oldest friends never came by just to talk and cheer me up. You did and more. And even though we have only known each other for a year…..i think I am in love with you."

Naruto blushed at that before. "I could say that I am too. You are a strong girl with a great personality." He said before he turned the kiss.

Thalia smiled and somehow, while kissing him the pain the poison was causing her lessened greatly. She wanted to continue this forever, but Naruto need to go or else she might not make it. She reluctantly broke the kiss and said, "Thanks for letting me know, but you should go before it is too late."

Naruto smiled at the girl and said, 'Right." He gave her a hug before he disappeared from Limbo.

XXX

Taking his hand of Thalia Tree, he said, "Don't worry, I get that Fleece so it can cure that annoying poison and then I'll a way to break you out of there. I promise." Naruto said aloud since he knew she could hear him.

After that, he made his way back into camp with a smile on his face. In the middle of the U of cabins, he saw Clarisse waiting there with an annoyed look on her face. "So, how we getting there?" He asked with a smile.

"About time you got here!" Clarisse said.

"What? I am on time." Naruto said, oblivious as to why she was angry.

"Finished saying goodbye?" Clarisse asked, but also didn't care.

"Yep and I found out something interesting. Thalia can hear everything that goes on outside her tree." Naruto said thoughtfully.

Clarisse's eyes widened at that. She had some words to say then, but she would wait until after the quest. "Well good to know." She said before she pointed in the direction of the beach. "We are going by sea."

"Oh? Should be fun, but how did you get a vessel?" Naruto asked.

"My father has an agreement with yours. That all the spoils of the losing side of war goes to him. They basically own him a debt for losing. He is calling on that debt now because I prayed for his help while you said your goodbyes to Tree Girl." Clarisse explain.

"Huh, well this should be interesting. A vessel from some losing side of a war. I bet you anything that it will be run by zombies" Naruto said with a smirk.

"Whatever, anything is possible." Clarisse said while rolling her eyes before they made their way to the beach.

XXX

Once there, they didn't see anything at first, but that soon changed when a large Ironclade Warship suddenly rose from the bottom of the water. "Ok, didn't expect that." Naruto said with blinking stupidly.

"Hmm, the CSS Birmingham." Clarisse read aloud the name of the ship that was on its side. "Oh, it must be from the civil war, what a piece of junk!"

"Just be grateful your dad didn't give you something from the old days…those old ships the Greeks used didn't look any safer. Plus, I thought he would be pissed at me for the last time we met." Naruto said.

"Oh right, your fight with him." She drawled out. "Well, at least we got something."

"Yep!"

"Madam Clarisse and Naruto SIR! We shall be your crew!" An undead conderate soldier said as he came out of the ship.

"Heh, told you." Naruto smirked, talking about his earlier talk about zombies.

"Just get in." Clarisse said while rolling her eyes.

XXX

"Oh and would be your child lady?" Sasuke asked the snake like woman rudely.

Echidna simply glare at the young Uchiha. "Certainly not a brat such as you, Child of Retribution."

Sasuke simply arched an eyebrow at that but said nothing.

Orochimaru eyed this strange woman with interest. She was not after his prized Uchiha. So who? "Who are you?"

"I am known as Echidna, Mother of all Monsters."

"I see." Orochimaru replied evenly. This woman was obliviously insane to believe that she is someone from old stories he grew up on as a child.

"Tell me, why do you seek immortality when you already have it?" Echidan asked the man.

"What? I am not immortal….not yet."

"Oh but you are. You were the moment you were born, you just had to age a bit to be take seriously." Echidna replied. "Your 'parents' died because of you. You took their life force…but they were not your true parents. I am your true mother. You are my last and strongest son!"

"You must be joking." Orochimaru hissed. He remembered his parents to this day and he did feel that their death was odd. "How would I be someone else's child?"

"Simple, that man you called father, had a one night stand with me and I sent my power, along with my husband's power with in you. He is Typhon." Echidna said with a smile.

"No…this is impossible!" Orochimaru shouted. He felt like he was losing his mind.

"My children do not age after a certain point, you must have noticed that by now. They can be reborn when they are killed, but only after a few years. You are Orochimaru, the TRUE Snake."

The snake like man was now on his knees, clothing his head. "THIS CAN'T BE!"

"Accept the truth my son." Echidna said as she put a hand on his shoulder and theough that touch, information crawled its way to his mind's eye. Everything about his life was for this moment.

"I see. Thank you mother for finding me." Orochimaru muttered in a dead tone of voice.

"Come, I have a mission for you. It is to kill a certain blond hero that you know of." Echida ordered.

"Yes Mother."

"Hold on, the hell is going on?" Sasuke asked. Sure he was done training with the man but this shit came out of nowhere and it was confusing the hell out of him.

"You will know in time, Child of Retribution. The Eclipse that will be upon you will tell you what you need to know. Stay alive until then." Echidna said cryptically before she had her son disappeared.

XXX

"So bored!" Naruto complained as he was topside, looking out onto the ocean at night. Of course they had to be mindful of the ship because it could not go in deep waters, they had to stay by the shore most of them time. They got to see a few good sights, but not much else.

Clarisse's eyebrow twitched. The idiot blond could be as bad as a child sometime! "Well, and I can't believe I am suggesting this, why don't you sing to ease your boredom."

Naruto blinked stupidly before he smacked his head. "Why didn't I think of that?" He said before he smirked evilly, thinking of a song that could get interrupted at anytime. He wanted to see how far he could get. "Hmm, how about this one? It's a small world after all!"

"NO! Anything but that!" Clarisse raged.

Down below, the zombie soldiers, who were intelligent, were wondering if their commanders were married or something. They bickered at lot…..well Clarisse did, Naruto just annoyed her. Suddenly they felt themselves moving on their own to topside. The suspected it was the blond's doing.

"Alright then, but I am borrowing the crew for a moment then." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Wait what?" Clarisse got out before the crew came on the deck and positioned themselves behind the blond. Suddenly two poofs were heard. Naruto looked undead now and the other poof was a shadow clone, transformed into a boombox. When the music began,she had a twitching eyebrow. "Ok seriously, Micheal Jackson?"

Naruto nodded before he began to sing.

"It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark

Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart

You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it

You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes

You're paralyzed

'Cause this is thriller, thriller night

And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike

You know it's thriller, thriller night

You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight

You hear the door slam and realize there's nowhere left to run

You feel the cold hand and wonder if you'll ever see the sun

You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination, girl!

But all the while you hear the creature creeping up behind

You're out of time

'Cause this is thriller, thriller night

There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes, girl

Thriller, thriller night

You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight

Night creatures calling, the dead start to walk in their masquerade

There's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time

(They're open wide)

This is the end of your life

They're out to get you, there's demons closing in on every side

{ From: . }

They will possess you unless you change that number on your dial

Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together, yeah

All through the night I'll save you from the terror on the screen

I'll make you see

That this is thriller, thriller night

'Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try

Thriller, thriller night

So let me hold you tight and share a

Killer, diller, chiller, thriller here tonight

'Cause this is thriller, thriller night

Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try

Thriller, thriller night

So let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller, ow!

(I'm gonna thrill ya tonight)

Darkness falls across the land

The midnight hour is close at hand

Creatures crawl in search of blood

To terrorize y'alls neighborhood

I'm gonna thrill ya tonight, ooh baby

I'm gonna thrill ya tonight, oh darlin'

Thriller night, baby, ooh!

The foulest stench is in the air

The funk of forty thousand years

And grizzly ghouls from every tomb

Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive

Your body starts to shiver

For no mere mortal can resist

The evil of the thriller!"

Clarisse's mood lifted during the song. Sure she was annoyed with the blond, but he always put a smile on her face. It put her in such a good mood that she laughed before she joined in dancing the odd dance that Naruto and the Zombies were performing.

When it was all over, the confederate zombies all went up in a poof smoke as they returned to their jobs below, confused and disoriented. It also had the effect of tripping up Clarisse and making her plow into Naruto, making them both fall, before they laughed.

Getting up, they made their way over to the edge of the boat and sat down. "Well that was fun." Clarisse chuckled.

"Yep. You seemed annoyed before and now that my Thriller song is over, you are happy." Naruto said, "I am glad, I don't like it when my friends are in a bad mood."

Clarisse smiled at that. Naruto always tried to make everyone smile and she admired that. She really liked him. Hey she was a girl, even if a battle hardened one. After all she is a daughter of Ares. So she liked to fight a lot and all that training did make her body well-toned with a good bit of muscle. Her face was not bad, but what kept the boy away was her attitude , but Naruto didn't mind it at all. She was happy to be his friend.

After some time, like Thalia, she fell for him too. Yet, she was very awkward in the love field and wondered how her father went about it. Deciding to wing it, seeing the mood was right since it was a full moon, she leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

Naruto, who had his eyes closed as he laughed, widened them to epic proportions when he felt the kiss from his traveling partner. He was just too shocked to do anything. He had always figured that he was just be best friends with the girl. Now he had two girls after his heart and he had no clue how to act. When Clarisse broke the kiss, he blushed and asked, "W-what w-was that f-for?"

"Um…oh hell, I'll just come out and say it! I really like you ok!" Clarisse said with a blush of her own. "I…was hoping you would accept me for…you know. Most guy stay away from me because of my personality, you, however, don't care."

Naruto sighed with a small, but confused smile on his face. "Damn, am an idiot not to see that you like me."

"More like oblivious." She commented.

"Yeah, but I…don't know if this could work." Naruto said sadly. "I mean, Thalia kissed me as well in Limbo. So….i am just confused."

_DAMN THAT GIRL!_ Clarisse raged in her thoughts before sighing. "Naruto, I know you like her, but IF you can't get her out of the tree, I will be here, but I won't wait forever." She said as she got up.

"And if I get her out, will you still be my friend?"

"Of course!" Clarisse shot back, shocked that he would think that she wouldn't. "However, I won't be too happy that you are with her…..but I would not mind sharing." She offered, making the boy widen his eyes before he blushed again.

"That would be an experience." He said, "Thanks for understanding."

"No problem." Clarisse said softly, although she was sad that she could not be with him now.

Suddenly, they heard a noise in the air and they looked up. They, at first, thought it was a comet, as it got closer, they saw that it was a chariot and on it was Ares, God of War.

XXX

**Alright, tell me what you all think. I know I am not good with romance, tell him how I can improve on that so when I get to Zoe, I can make it believable. **

**Also, I might do a sequel to this series, but I don't really want to go with the second series that is own. Hell, I have not even read the Last Olympian yet! So, if I do a sequel to this series, I plan to cross this with Norse Mythology! Why not right? The second series focus on Roman Mythology, so mine will be on Norse…..just need some ideas. Also, Naruto would gain another girl…..Thor's daughter. Either canon or Marvel daughter I am not sure. HELP ME OUT!**

**Review!**


	9. The Last Son of Echidna!

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters\**

**Chapter 9**

**The Last Son of Echidna**

**Well, I am working on the future quest with Burnning Truth. Chm01, thanks for the help as well. Of course, this won't be till after the 4****th**** book and…heh, he will be getting Thor's daughter. Also, someone mentioned the songs. It won't happy every chapter. But I will have a song for each girl. You already saw Clarisse's song, won't say I am in Love. I have the perfect ones for Thalia and Zoe. I am still debating on whether or not Bianca will be with him…so I'll put up a poll. **

"Hey uh, any clue as to why your dad would be here?" Naruto asked his partner.

"You're asking me?" Clarisse asked in shock. She really had no clue, but she might have an idea….especially about what happened a few minutes ago.

They could not ponder to long because the God of War landed on the water next to their stopped boat. The man's chariot just floated on the water like it was weightless. He then got out and walked over to them rather casually, building up the suspension.

Soon, he was right in front of the two, towering above them with a smirk. Naruto, being who he was, was not that afraid and smiled. "How are those ankles holding up?" Naruto asked, which got Clarisse to look at him in shock and fear for his safety.

Ares, face still set in a smirk, put his hand down on the blond's head before lifting him up so that they were eye level. Then he said, "Pretty good…punk." Before dropping the blond back on the hard metal of the boat. "I guess I should say thanks for knocking me out of the mind control, BUT I will have a rematch with you one of these days."

"Oh? Looking to get humiliated again?" Naruto answered smartly.

"Watch it brat. I could turn you into a harpy if I wanted to." Ares shot back.

"What's stopping you?" Naruto smirked.

Ares glared at the blond for a moment before he turned to Clarisse. "Go below, I want to talk with your partner about a few things. Don't worry; I will take good care of him." Clarisse, hesitated for a moment before going below the deck, hoping her crush would live through whatever Ares had planned for him.

Turning back to the blond he said, "Again…I would have loved for there have been a war to break out, but it would have been for stupid reasons. Thanks again brat, never thought a child of old corpse breath would defend a friend and fight me to stop a war."

Naruto laughed. "I am not like my siblings, if you have not figured that out yet. Seriously."

Ares seemed to roll his eyes. "There was another reason I came here." He said before he suck punched the blond, making him fall on the ground before he put his boot on Naruto's chest. "Now, I know you have a thing for Zeus' daughter and it is annoying. That's because she is in a tree and it is very unlikely that she will be revived any time soon."

At this, Naruto glared at the man. "Says you. I don't give as easily as other people."

"Tch, you really do have what those ninja's back in your world call, the Will of Fire." Ares said. "Admirable, but annoying. I will warn you now, if you cannot revive in just a few years, give up. I am a father after all and I do want to see Clarisse happy."

"She's my friend, I'll make her happy." Naruto glared.

"Good." Ares replied, knowing that was what he would get out of this conversation. He then held out a hand for the blond to take, helping him up. "Glad you see it my way kid. But if I had actually hurt you, Aphrodite would have me in the dog house."

"Ha! Man, you are whipped!" Naruto laughed.

"Heh, maybe I am, you will be too when the time comes." Ares argued back. "Still it is not all bad; I am with the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Ok…" Naruto said.

"Yeah, now, she would really have my balls on a plate if I killed you." Ares replied with a shiver, making Naruto smirk at how his grandma really scared this man…the freaking God of War!

"Hey, you mentioned the Will of Fire. What did you mean by that? It seemed like you knew something more about it." Naruto commented.

"Of course I know about it." Ares snapped. "I was there when Hestia gave it to the First Hokage."

"Wait what?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. The Will of Fire was something she gave to him when she saw him fighting for…peace. You have it in you because you fight hard for your precious people and your new home. You want to make everyone happy" Ares paused before he looked right into Naruto's eyes. "And thanks to me, it can be used as attack."

"How is that possible?" Naruto asked.

"It fuels some of the users most powerful attacks." Ares replied. "Some of the best warriors in your village use it and don't even know."

"Why are you telling me this now?" Naruto asked.

"Because, you will need to know this when you fight the last son of Echidna tomorrow. I want you to win this battle for me because I still want to fight you. I want payback!" Ares growled.

"Heh, fair enough." Naruto chuckled at Ares' childish reasons.

"Remember what I said." Ares said seriously before he walked over to his chariot and road off.

"Yeah…" Naruto said, thinking about Thalia and Clarisse as he went below to tell his partner that he was ok and to get some sleep.

XXX

Orochimaru and Echidna appeared on a beach in North Carolina. Looking around at the unfamiliar place he was in, he contemplated walking to see the sights. Echidna had other plans. "My son, you will get your time in looking around in your life. Even IF you are killed at the hands of the Death God's son, you will just be reborn again in a few years, like all my children."

"I see." Orochimaru replied, happy that he could live forever….even if he was killed. "When shall I battle this weak little genin?"

"Do not underestimate him my son. He has already defeated one of my other child." Echidna snapped before her face began to smile. "Tomorrow, he and another will pass this spot on a metal vessel. You battle will begin then and be sure to kill him in the most painful way you can think of."

Orochimaru chuckled evilly at that. "And his friend?"

"That would be up to you. I care not of the fate of a daughter of the God of War." Echidna replied before she disappeared, leaving the snake like man to his thoughts

XXX

Naruto was on edge. What Ares said last night made him so. Today he was to fight the last son of Echidna. He had no clue who it could be, but they were from his world and he knew not to take a fight like this for granted.

Clarisse looked at her friend in worry. She had no clue what her father said, but it put the boy on edge and that was never good. When she heard that bump last night, she was afraid that her father might kill him, but he didn't and he just came down with a red jaw, where her father punched the blond.

"Naruto. What is wrong?" She finally asked.

Naruto sighed. He had not told her about the conversation at all and he regretted it because eshe was unaware of what was about to transpire. "Remember that passage in the prophecy?"

"Yeah, you have fight the last son of Echidna." Clarisse replied. "What of it?"

"Your dad came to want me about it. Today is the day I will fight it." Naruto sighed. "To be honest, I am not sure I have the power to take it on."

"Oh? And why is that?" Clarisse challenged.

"Because, it is from my world and well, I have not fought a ninja in a long time." Naruto said gloomily. However, before he could say anything else, she smacked him. "Wha….what was that for!"

"Are you listening to yourself!" Clarisse raged. "I may not have known you very long, but this talk is NOT you. You fight for your friends, no matter the enemy. You are the best fighter in camp! If you don't lose sight of what you are fighting for, you will never lose!"

Naruto blinked stupidly as Clarisse panted from her rant. "Heh, you're right." Naruto laughed. "I guess I just need to be reminded every now and then." He then hugged her in thanks, making the girl blush at the contact while he thought about the same incident before the chunin exams. Hinata had to remind him of the same thing.

"N-no problem." Clarisse replied before he turned away from him so that he would not see the blush. However, it quickly went away when she saw a lone person on a nearby beach, staring right at them with a sick smile. "Who is that?" She asked aloud.

"No way." Naruto said with eye wide eyes before they both fell to their knees under the overwhelming pressure of the man's killing intent.

_No freaking way. This is….THIS IS MADENING!_Clarisse thought in panic before she heard metal slicing into flesh. She thought that the man had hurt her, but she felt no pain. That it hit her. Naruto. The sicko had hurt Naruto! _I'LL KILL HIM!_ Oh yeah, that brought her out of her fear induced trance, only to see that Naruto had stabbed himself to regain himself.

Naruto looked to his partner and said, "It is Orochimaru. An S class ninja from my world. I'll handle this."

"Are you fucking nuts? We gotta get the hell out of here!" Clarisse roared, but she soon calmed down when Naruto put his hand on her shoulders, making her look in his eyes. "I have to do this. He will just follow us anyway. I'll be ok."

The girl sighed before saying, "But if you get hurt on my watch, I am kicking your ass myself!"

"Heh, then I better not get hurt then." Naruto laughed before he jumped off the boat and walked towards the snake like man on the beach, who was smirking the whole time.

"Naruto-kun. It has been awhile." Orochimaru stated.

"Snake freak…" Naruto ground out. "I am kind of glad it is you that I have to fight."

"Oh? And why is that Naruto-kun?"

"Pay back for doing what you did to Sasuke!" Naruto roared.

"Oh, the boy wanted power and I gave some to him. He chose to leave on his own free will." Orochimaru replied with his everlasting smirk. "He has sooo much potential! He is already so strong that I doubt you could even touch him. You are the same. You have potential, but do you have want it takes to beat me?"

"We'll see!" Naruto shouted as seals appeared over his clothes and his ANBU armor appeared, along with his ninja gear, making the man raise an eyebrow. Naruto then took out the minotaur blade, hoping to distract the man for a bit.

The snake man was indeed put off by the strange bull like creatures before him. There were ten in all. "What in hell are these things?" he asked aloud.

"It is the minotaur!" Naruto replied awhile adding chakra to the blade and thrusting it forward. "**Death Style: True Minotaur Control!" **The giant beasts in the illusion all froze up before the spirit of the beast went into all ten of them. "You may have attacked me and Percy before, but thanks to dead, I have control of you." Naruto said to himself. "Charge!"

Orochimaru's eyes widened as he had to dodge to the said a few times when the beast came charging after him. It seemed that with Naruto's knowledge with in them, they were able to fight better this time. A few nearly gaze him, but Orochimaru kept getting out of the way in time. That is when he noticed that only 9 were actually attacking him, but before he could think more on that, he was pounded on from behind as it horns pierced through his stomach.

Crying in out in pain, the snake man quickly got off the horns before back flipping and bashing the thing on the head with his strength. He was caught off guard again when he was caught in between to more pairs of horns. He growled at that. He was sannin for kami's sake! He regurgitated Kusanagi, sliced through the heads of the three around him before using the **Temporary Paralysis Jutsu **to stop the rest of the strange beasts and then he killed them as well.

Naruto glared at the man. He knew it would not have been that easy. So he charged in himself, raising the Minotaur blade to strike at his foe. Their blades connected in the middle and Orochimaru almost thought he had to dodge another minotaur, but after a few more connections of their swords, he found that they were illusions, meant to confuse and scare the enemy. "Oh very intriguing Naruto-kun. A sword like that could win you a few battle back home. But not this one!"

Orochimaru then used his superior strength to knock the blade out of his hands, sending the minotaur blade spinning to the boat, embedding it in the metal just a few feet from Clarisse, who paled at that, however, she paled even more when the snake like man slash vertically, slicing Naruto in half.

"NARUTO!"

There was a poof of smoke and a piece of drift wood appeared him his place and it was in half. Orochimaru looked back to the water to see the blond standing there, panting. "Show me more Naruto. You are starting to interest me!"

"Fine! **Chaos Style: Chaotic Construction of Doom!" **Naruto shouted as a greenish black blob appeared above them before it exploded, sending the same color hands and twisting spears at the man.

Orochimaru actually had a look of fear on his face at this attack. To him, it seemed so unpredictable and he was right. The hands came at him, with him dodging them all, but they twisted back around. The spears, however, caught one of his hands, piercing right through it before jetting into the ground and staying there. Four more hit the ground, but he was able to dodge them with the use of shadow clones. He tried to get out of the trap, but as he passed through two of them, he was bounced back to the middle of the trap. It sent a shock through him so bad that he never noticed that it had cost him a foot.

Soon, the construction looked like a messy ball of yarn in a five point fence. Naruto quickly let the jutsu dissipate as it was very draining. When it cleared, he was pleased and a little sick at what he saw. Orochimaru's sword lay on the ground as his clutched at the stump of his right arm. Heck he too was on the ground because both of his legs were gone and a part of his chest was blown out. "O-oh m-my Naruto –k-kun. You actually seemed to have damaged me." Orochimaru managed to spit out as blond poured from his mouth. "But this is far from over! **Body Shedding!"**

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw Orochimaru…climb out of the mouth of his old damaged body. "What in the hell?"

"Now we fight for real, Naruto-kun. I know not to take you lightly." The snake man said before he rushed the blond with the Grass Cutter and swung down vertically. Naruto did not dodge or replace himself this time. He blocked the man's power strike with both Fear and Destruction. "What's this. More blades, oh I would love to see what these do!"

Naruto pushed Orochimaru back and slammed both of his blades down on him, but the snake man blocked easily. What Orochimaru didn't account for was that Naruto would slide one of his blades outward to him, creating sparks. The man moved his head away from the blade, but he still got cut….actually his ear was split in half.

Angry, Orochimaru knocked away Naruto's blades and stabbed the blond in the shoulder, making him cry out. "Ah, your death will truly be fun!" Orochimaru shouted out before he took the sword out of Naruto's shoulder.

"You bastard." Naruto growled. He swung Destruction and yelled, "**Chaos Wave!**"

Cursing under his breath, Orochimaru use the substitution to get away from the wave of energy that literally destroyed everything in its path. "I will not lose to a brat like you. **Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!"**

Naruto grimaced at that. Thankfully his quick healing let him use his shoulder again and he dropped his blades to perform another jutsu to get rid of the damn snakes. Seriously, the man had a fetish for them. _I don't know how well this will work during the day, but what the hell. _**"Darkness Style: Nyx's Judgement!" **

Darkness appeared in a dark mist all around the blond before it shot off toward the snakes, eating them up like acid, however, a few survived and struck out at the blond with swords coming out of their mouths. Naruto glared that them before he took up his swords and sliced them to bits.

This angered Orochimaru. "I don't what you did, but now I don't care. I will kill you one way or another and mother didn't I could or could not kill the girl on the boat. Maybe i could use her in one of my experiments that I'll be doing in this strange land!"

"How about…FUCK NO!" Naruto growled. "I won't let you hurt any of my precious people!" Clarisse smiled when she heard that. It was the first time she actually smiled in this intense battle. It was wrecking her nerves, with her hoping that Naruto would be ok

"Take this! **Death Style: Popping like Daisies!"** Naruto shouted. It grew quiet at that, the two others processing what he just said.

"WHAT KIND OF NAME FOR AN ATTACK IS THAT?" Clarisse yelled out comically, also voicing Orochimaru's thoughts.

Naruto didn't say anything as the ground around the snake man shook violently before hands shot out of the ground, all dead and rotting. They also caught Orochimaru's legs before pulling themselves out the ground. "What madness is this?"

"Oh just a gathering of our friendly neighborhood flesh addicts." Naruto smiled cheerfully as they bit down on the man, making him scream out in pain before that face full of terror froze and then melted into mud. 'Really…this again?" Naruto groaned.

"Oh yes, I will so enjoy killing and then taking all your jutsu out of that dead brain!" Orochimaru shouted with a crazy look on his face and drool coming out his mouth as he popped out of the ground.

"You know, for an old man, you are pretty good."

"Why thank you Naruto-kun. But you are wrong…I AM THE BEST! **SUMMONING JUTSU!" **In a large poof of smoke, nothing appeared. "What the? Why can't I summon Manda?"

"I have a theory." Naruto replied. "When you became the monster and crossover, your contract with the giant snake is over! Unfortunately for you, I _can_ summon Gamabunta, but I feel he will be of no use in this battle. I am going to end this when something that my father told me about. So let's get Kraken!" He joked playfully at the end.

"Oh and what can you do that will kill me just like that?" Orochimaru growled, but he didn't let Naruto answer because he rushed him with the Grass Cutter, clashing with Naruto's blade in a flurry of motion. Their attacks giving off sparks as their foot work lead them onto the water. In a wide open space, a good distance away from the boat. Naruto smirked as he sent chakra to his arms to knock away Orochimaru who looked at him warily, the man back to the wide expanse of the ocean.

Naruto smiled. "The energy of Kraken flows through these blades."

"Kraken?"

"You know it better as the Ten Tails. And now I will release it to destroy you!" Naruto shouted as he slammed the hilts together, creating a double sided sword before it glowed in red and white energy as he spun it around until it became a blur.

Orochimaru's eyes widened when he heard that and he panicked in fear for a second. He quickly regained himself and hoped that his next jutsu worked. "**Summoning Jutsu: Triple Rashomon!"** Thankfully for him, it worked, the three gates rose out of the water rose just in time.

Naruto let the spinning blades go as they spun on their own. "Time to end this. **Ultimate Tailed Beast Ball!" **Naruto shouted as it became a large sphere and he slammed his fist into it. That was the breaking point as a massive amount of energy shot forward and obliterates the gates like they were wet paper, traveling off into the ocean.

Naruto panted as that took a bit of his own chakra to pull off. But it was all for not because he heard clapping and laughing that sounded dark. He looked up to see a wet Orochimaru. The man had escaped the attack by diving into the water! "Ah…shit."

"Truly a fun battle, bit it is time for me to end this myself!" Orochimaru roared as he transformed into his huge snake with many snakes along its body. "Time to DIE!" It roared as t lunged at the blond, who curse his luck.

"Damn, so this is his true from! SHIT!" He yelled as he dodged left and right, trying not to get hit, but it was pretty hard with all those other snake lunging for him as well. He could barely strike back and set up and Flying Thunder God seal on the man. "Screw this!" He yelled as he managed to kick the monster back enough so that he could perform another jutsu. "**Hellfire and Darkness Style: Wings of the Fallen Angel!" **The dark fire wings formed on his back, sending him into the air just before Orochimaru lunged at him again.

He sighed in exhaustion, as he flew into the sun's light, making him look like a true angel to those looking up. "Orochimaru, you may be from the same village as me. But you are nothing like ANYONE in the village! We fight for our friends! We fight for peace!" As Naruto yelled, wispy red energy swirled around his being. "I will protect my friends from people like you! I will not lose for I have the **Will of Fire!"** The red energy burst all around him at this point, not that he noticed, but the others did.

"This…is so awesome." Clarisse said from her spot, with the undead confederate soldier nodding dumbly. They had actually begun watching half way through the battle. Clarisse herself had stars in her eyes.

Orochimaru froze at that. What the hell was going on? This brat had never been this powerful before. All throughout the battle he had been throwing out all these crazy jutsu and sword skills. Now he was speaking like the Hokages!

_Uncle Poseidon, please keep him still._ Naruto prayed to his uncle as he held out his right hand, forming a rasengan, but it was red, like the energy surrounding him. "I am going to end this…now." With that, Naruto flew down at high speeds.

Orochimaru tried to get out of the way, but for some reason, he could not move…AT ALL! "NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOO!" He screamed as Naruto got closer.

"**WILL OF FIRE RASENGAN!" **Naruto screamed out as he slammed the swirling mass of energy right into Orochimaru's snake face, making the man scream out in pain as his face was twisted beyond believe, it was blown inwards and the energy shredded through the rest of the body, utterly destroying it.

Panting, Naruto tiredly looked around; making sure that Orochimaru was finally gone. All that was left was a familiar floating sword. _Spoils of war_. He thought as he took the blade before lowly flying back to the boat, the wings barely flapping due to the little chakra he had left. As soon as he landed, the wings dispelled and he felt himself falling back, but Clarisse caught him before he hit the ground. "I got ya."

"Heh, thanks. Remind me to thank Aunt Hestia the next time I see her." He said with a tired smile. "I am so tired….man that was a chaotic battle."

"Did someone say Chaos!" The voice rang out happily.

XXX

**Well, there you go, the next chapter. Can anyone guess who the voice is? I'll give you a hint, she is in the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Now Naruto has a new blade. Please tell me what you think of the battle Too rushed?**

**I hope it was good, I have been rather tired to day, so it was a pain to write this.**

**Review!**


	10. Welcome to the Sea of Monsters!

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 10**

**Thanks zerhour20xx for an idea. Ok. Just so you all know, i am NOT going to be doing the second series. I will do this whole series...with naruto's quest and that is it. So that means all five books.  
**

Naruto smiled weakly as his 'sister' before wincing. Some of those damn snakes had actually got him, but thanks to his abnormal healing thanks to the Kyuubi that used to be in him, the poison was fading, but he was still exhausted.

"So Eris, any reason you decided to show up….and as yourself from the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy."

Eris smiled before she put a hand on the blond demi-deity's shoulder, making him glow for a minute. "Simple, you give you the gift our brothers and sisters were to give you. Mom thought it best that I come and see you. Besides, I had to get away from Hermes and his mail service. Jeez! I said I would help the guy out, but run the place!"

Clarisse sweat dropped before she said, "I have seen that show and don't act like the Eris on that show."

Eris' eye twitched at that. "Of course not! Saying the word 'like' every few words would get annoying for anyone. Besides, I am not that annoying…or crazy. And that Hoss Delgado is weird and annoying!"

"I agree. You are a lot cooler this way." Naruto said as he noticed that he was only half as tired as he was before.

"Glad you think so." Eris said with a smile. "Oh, and you might want to turn around."

"Huh?" Naruto said as he did that literally.

"No! I meant the boat. Head to the swamps of Virginia and you will find Percy, Annabeth, and Grover there."

"What, no way!" Clarisse growled.

Naruto sighed, "Oh come on Clarisse. The prophecy did say that you would fail without the help of friends."

"But I got you to help me."

"Heh, true, but I can only do so much. Annabeth does have brains and she will be some help, Tyson has the strength we need, and Percy can fight. So please…for me?" Naruto asked with a smile.

Clarisse sighed. "Alright fine, but you owe me."

Eris smiled at the exchange. "Oh and Apollo did mention something." She said catching their attention again. "He told me that they will be in a fight with a Hydra, so you might want to hurry."

"Heh, thanks for the warning sis." Naruto said with a smile as he made clones to help push the ship around faster.

"Oh it is no problem. And remember." She started while taking out her golden apple. "A golden apple a day keeps you in traction for the next few months!" She then disappeared, cackling the whole time.

"She scares me sometimes." Naruto said with a sigh.

"Of course she would scare you. She is the Goddess of Chaos!" Clarisse said.

"Nah, she is not that." Naruto said, waving her off. "She is the Goddess of Strife and Discord. Chaos was the primordial God of Chaos."

Clarisse just stared at her crush for a moment and before walking off, saying, "Whatever."

XXX

"Do what you want because you are a pirate." Naruto sang to himself as the boat chugged away down the swampy river. He could not figure out why Percy would be here…or why a Hydra would want to be in this region anyway. Oh well, whatever.

He was still tired from his battle with Orochimaru, but he was good to fight some monster that grew more heads every time you cut one off. He sat on the edge of the boat, looking out for his friends. Clarisse walked up from behind him in full Greek battle armor and a cannon ready for anything.

"Well, you seem to be ready for anything." Naruto commented.

It is a Hyrda after all. We are not all super ninjas like you." Clarisse countered with a smirk.

"True. You guys are not as awesome as me, but I guess it helps to be prepared." Naruto said with a smile as he made his ANBU armor appear. He then looked tp the ready cannon and said, "You must really want to get this over with."

"I do and it helps that the Hydra is very weak to fire." Clarisse explained, making the blond blink.

"Wow, that thing does not stand a chance." Naruto said with a big smile, with the girl smiling as well because it is contagious.

"Got that right." Clarisse said with a smile of her own.

Soon, they came upon an interesting battle. Naruto had a dead panned look on his face and said, "O…k. A monster wearing a large bib….yeah that is not weird at all." Naruto's sarcastic voice rang out along with the boat's chug chug chugging that Percy and the other seemed to hear from their spot as they fought the Hydra.

"What's that noise?" Annabeth shouted, keeping her eyes on the Hydra, but once she heard Naruto's voice, she smiled a bit and said, "Oh."

"Steam engine and Naruto!" Tyson said.

"What?" Percy ducked as the Hydra spat acid over his head.

"Ok." Clarisse said before she rounded on the dead confederate soldier behind her before pointing to the Hydra. "There! Prepare the thirty two-pounder!"

None of the heroes fighting the Hydra dared to look back, but they had an idea of who was behind them. And they thought it was an enemy. Well….if it was Clarisse, then they might have an enemy, but Naruto was with her, so they were good.

"They're too close, m'lady!" the gravelly voice of the dead man replied.

"Damn the heroes!" the girl said. "Full steam ahead!"

"Aye, m'lady."

"Fire at will, Captain!"

"Oooh. This should be fun. FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Naruto shouted as the cannon fired in the Hydra's general direction.

Annabeth understood what was happening a split second before any of her friends did. She yelled, "Hit the dirt!" They all dove to the ground just as the Hydra was hit by the cannon ball, making the Hydra go up in flame as it exploded around them. The Hydra exploded right in front of them, showering them with nasty green slime that vaporized as soon as it hit, the way monster guts tend to do.

"Gross!" screamed Annabeth.

"Steamship!" yelled Tyson.

The Cyclopes was right, Naruto and Clarisse pulled up near them in their ironclad steam ship. Naruto smirked at their bewildered looks. "So, how was the escape of the camp?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"How?" Percy asked.

"Heh, I sent a shadow clone to trail you and I called for Annabeth and Tyson to come and find you just after Hermes left." Naruto explained.

"Oh, so that was you!" Annabeth said with realization.

"So you set all this up?" Clarisse asked.

"Um…yes?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Figures." Clarisse replied before she looked at the Demi-Gods and their Cyclopes friend on the ground. "Well, losers. I suppose I should rescue you, climb aboard."

With, Naruto helped them aboard before gave them a tour of the steam ship.

XXX

"You are in so much trouble," Clarisse said.

They had just finished a ship tour that the trio didn't want, through dark rooms overcrowded with dead sailors. They saw the coal bunker, the boilers and engine, which huffed and groaned like it would explode any minute. They saw the pilothouse and the powder magazine and gunnery deck (Clarisse's favorite) with two Dahlgren smoothbore cannons on the port and starboard sides and a Brooke nine-inch rifled gun fore and aft—all specially refitted to fire celestial bronze cannon balls.

Everywhere they went, dead Confederate sailors stared at them, their ghostly bearded faces shimmering over their skulls. They approved of Annabeth because she told them she was from Virginia. They were interested in Percy, too, because his last name was Jackson—like the Southern general—but then he went and blew by tell them he was from New York and they groaned, muttering about Yankees.

Tyson was terrified of them. All through the tour, he insisted Annabeth hold his hand, which she didn't look too thrilled about.

Finally, they were escorted to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were about the size of a walk-in closet, but still much bigger than any other room on board. The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr. Peppers were served by skeletal crewmen. Percy didn't want to eat anything served by ghosts, but his hunger overruled his fear.

"Tantalus expelled you for eternity," Clarisse told them smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."

"Let me guess, the food freak told you that while I was saying goodbye to Thalia." Naruto said.

"Yep." Clarisse replied and Naruto just grunted. He really hated that guy, but what can you do.

"Did they give you guy this ship?" Percy asked.

"'Course not. My father did."

"Ares?" Percy asked.

Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"

The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. His glowing green eyes fixed at Percy with a hungry stare. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."

Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."

Tyson gulped and Naruto looked on bored. "That could have been useful information earlier today…though I doubt they would have stood a chance against the snake."

"Clarisse," Annabeth said after she looked at her follow blond questionably, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters—"

"Good! I'll blow him out of the water." Clarisse cheered while Naruto eye smiled, but even he knew this boat stood no chance.

"You don't understand," Annabeth said. We have to combine forces. Let us help you—"

"No!" Clarisse pounded the table. "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you two will not steal my chance."

"Where are your cabin mates?" Percy asked. "You were allowed to take two friends with you, weren't you?"

"They didn't ... I let them stay behind. To protect the camp. Besides, all the help that I really need was Naruto's."

"Clarisse," Percy said, "Even with Naruto, Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp. He'd love to see it destroyed. He's setting you up to fail."

"No! I don't care what the Oracle—" She stopped herself.

"What?" I said. "What did the Oracle tell you?"

"Nothing." Clarisse's ears turned pink. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go ..."

"So we're prisoners?" Annabeth asked.

"Guests. For now." Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another Dr. Pepper. "Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."

"Really Clarisse?" Naruto said once they left the room. "You may have me to help you, but like I said before. I can't do it all and neither can you. It pays to have friends helping you out."

"Urgh! I know, but they irritate me to no end!" Clarisse raged. "Thinking they are all big and bad and crap like that."

"Whatever you saw Clarisse." Naruto said with a sigh. "But please think about my words…ok?"

"Fine." Clarisse replied as she pouted in her seat as Naruto left to go catch up with his rag tag friends.

XXX

"I don't know how you put up with her." Percy stated as he laid in his hammock, the other agreeing with him.

"Don't like mean girl." Tyson said.

Naruto laughed, "Oh, you get used to her after a while. Besides, she is not that bad." He paused and said, "I still can't believe you met Luke on the sea…that he _has_ the remains of Gramps 'o' bits. And I don't think Thalia would agree with him. She may not like her dad that much, but I doubt she would go as far to try and kill him and the other gods."

"I said the same thing." Annabeth said smugly, making Percy roll his eyes. Changing the subject, the blond girl noticed a new charm on her follow blond arm band. "So…what is with the new charm? Is it connected to why your clothes kind of looks like crap?"

"Heh, basically." Naruto said as he made his new sword, Kusanagi. "Got this off old snake face."

Percy gave Naruto a disbelieving look while Tyson and Annabeth were confused. "What?" they asked together.

"Orochimaru. Apparently he is the lost and last son of Echidna." Naruto said, "I didn't see her this time, but I bet she is really pissed off at me."

"How did you beat a Sannin from your world?" Percy freaked.

"What? You think I have been slacking off?" Naruto joked. "Look, I know I should not have been able to beat him, but I guess the transition from my world to this world and becoming a true monster made him a little weak. Still it was an Epic battle."

"Geez, I guess so." Percy laughed. "So now you have 4 swords."

"Yep, almost like the game." Naruto smiled, making Percy laugh, while Annabeth rolled her eyes. "And after that, I met another family member. Eris."

"Whoa! That is awesome….I think." Percy replied.

"Oh it was. She helped me be not as tired as I was." Naruto stated. "And she dressed as herself from the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy."

"Tell she was not annoying as she is in the series." Percy asked.

"Nope."

"Good."

"So…how are you holding up, Annabeth. Getting used to the blade of Athen yet?"

"I am doing better thank you." Annabeth said with a smile. "And yes, I getting used to it."

"That's good." Naruto said with a smile, while Percy just rose an eyebrow.

_They must be talking about that weird, but badass short sword that she got._ Percy thought as Naruto and Annabeth talked.

XXX

The dream came as soon as the duo fell asleep.

Grover was sitting at his loom, desperately unraveling his wedding train, when the boulder door rolled aside and the Cyclops bellowed, "Aha!"

Grover yelped. "Dear! I didn't—you were so quiet!"

"Unraveling!" Polyphemus roared. "So that's the problem!"

"Oh, no. I—I wasn't—"

"Come!" Polyphemus grabbed Grover around the waist and half carried, half dragged him through the tunnels of the cave. Grover struggled to keep his high heels on his hooves. His veil kept tilting on his head, threatening to come off.

The Cyclops pulled him into a warehouse-size cavern decorated with sheep junk. There was a wool-covered La-Z-Boy recliner and a wool-covered television set, crude bookshelves loaded with sheep collectibles—coffee mugs shaped like sheep faces, plaster figurines of sheep, sheep board games, and picture books and action figures. The floor was littered with piles of sheep bones, and other bones that didn't look exactly like sheep—the bones of satyrs who'd come to the island looking for Pan.

Polyphemus set Grover down only long enough to move another huge boulder. Daylight streamed into the cave, and Grover whimpered with longing. Fresh air!

The Cyclops dragged him outside to a hilltop overlooking the most beautiful island Naruto and Percy had ever seen.

It was shaped kind of like a saddle cut in half by an ax. There were lush green hills on either side and a wide valley in the middle, split by a deep chasm that was spanned by a rope bridge. Beautiful streams rolled to the edge of the canyon and dropped off in rainbow-colored waterfalls. Parrots fluttered in the trees. Pink and purple flowers bloomed on the bushes. Hundreds of sheep grazed in the meadows, their wool glinting strangely like copper and silver coins.

And at the center of the island, right next to the rope bridge, was an enormous twisted oak tree with something glittering in its lowest bough.

The Golden Fleece.

Even in a dream, they could feel its power radiating across the island, making the grass greener, the flowers more beautiful. They could almost smell the nature magic at work. They could only imagine how powerful the scent would be for a satyr.

_So, that's what we are after. Seems powerful._ Naruto thought.

Grover whimpered.

"Yes," Polyphemus said proudly. "See over there? Fleece is the prize of my collection! Stole it from heroes long ago, and ever since—free food! Satyrs come from all over the world, like moths to flame. Satyrs good eating! And now—"

Polyphemus scooped up a wicked set of bronze shears.

Grover yelped, but Polyphemus just picked up the nearest sheep like it was a stuffed animal and shaved off its wool. He handed a fluffy mass of it to Grover.

"Put that on the spinning wheel!" he said proudly. "Magic. Cannot be unraveled."

"Oh ... well ..."

"Poor Honeypie!" Polyphemus grinned. "Bad weaver. Ha-ha! Not to worry. That thread will solve problem. Finish wedding train by tomorrow!"

"Isn't that ... thoughtful of you!"

"Hehe."

"But—but, dear," Grover gulped, "what if someone were to rescue—I mean attack this island?" Grover looked straight at the two watching through the dream, and the two knew he was asking for their benefit. "What would keep them from marching right up here to your cave?"

"Wifey scared! So cute! Not to worry. Polyphemus has state-of-the-art security system. Have to get through my pets."

"Pets?"

Grover looked across the island, but there was nothing to see except sheep grazing peacefully in the meadows.

"And then," Polyphemus growled, "they would have to get through me!"

He pounded his fist against the nearest rock, which cracked and split in half. "Now, come!" he shouted. "Back to the cave."

Grover looked about ready to cry—so close to freedom, but so hopelessly far. Tears welled in his eyes as the boulder door rolled shut, sealing him once again in the stinky torch-lit dankness of the Cyclops's cave.

_Don't worry Grover. We are coming for you..._ Naruto thought and Grover seemed to be happy with that until Naruto finished the sentence and anyone could tell he was giving the blond a dirty look. _HoneyPie….HA!_

XXX

Percy woke to alarm bells ringing throughout the ship.

The captain's gravelly voice: "All hands on deck! Find Lady Clarisse! Where is that girl?"

Then his ghostly face appeared above me. "Get up, Yankee and wake up your ninja friend for me. Your other friends are already above. We are approaching the entrance."

"The entrance to what?"

He gave the son of Poseidon a skeletal smile. "The Sea of Monsters, of course."

XXX

Naruto watched as Percy stuffed the few belongings that had survived the Hydra into a sailor's canvas knapsack and slung it over his shoulder. The water boy had a sneaking suspicion that one way or another he would not be spending another night aboard the CSS Birmingham.

"Ready mate?" Naruto asked like a sailor.

Percy chuckled before they made their way up the stairs. However, Percy froze midway because he felt like he wanted to punch someone and the only time he actually felt like that was when he was in the presence of Ares.

Of course, Naruto felt it too, but like usual, he was not affected by it. They nodded to each other and crept over to the side of the railing. Looking down at the boiler room through the ventilation, they saw Clarisse talking to the God of War through the steam. Naruto saw Percy clench his fists in anger, the blond put a hand on his shoulder to calm the boy down.

"I don't want excuses, little girl!" Ares growled.

"Y-yes, father," Clarisse mumbled.

"You don't want to see me mad, do you?"

"No, father."

"No, father," Ares mimicked. "You're pathetic. I should've let one of my sons take this quest. A least you have Corpse Breath's kid with you. Now he can fight!"

Percy felt the hand on his shoulder tighten a bit and he looked to see that Naruto had a scowl on his face.

Naruto knew that Clarisse was a bit afraid of her father, but the guy did not have to be an ass about it!

"I'll succeed!" Clarisse promised, her voice trembling. "I'll make you proud."

"You'd better," he warned. "You asked me for this quest, girl. If you let that slimeball Jackson kid steal it from you—"

"But the Oracle said—"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAID!" Ares bellowed with such force that his image shimmered. "You will succeed. And if you don't ..."

He raised his fist. Even though he was only a figure in the steam, Clarisse flinched.

"Do we understand each other?" Ares growled.

The bell rang again, startling Naruto and Percy and they nodded to each before they left to go see Tyson and Percy on the up deck. Naruto, though, wanted to a nice 'chat' with Ares later. He did not care if he was a God or Clarisse's dad, no one threatened his friends!

XXX

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked the two when they got up there. "Another dream?"

"Yup." Naruto replied while Percy nodded. Then Clarisse came up and Naruto could tell she was a little shaken up, so he put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, only to see him smile knowingly and that made her smile somewhat. She knew he was overprotective of his friends, but she worried more for him than her father.

She then grabbed a pair of binoculars from a zombie officer and peered toward the horizon. "At last. Captain, full steam ahead!"

"And now the fun begins!" Naruto shouted out excitedly.

Percy and Annabeth looked at their friend like he was nuts while Tyson just looked confused. Percy looked ahead but could not see much other than a couple of dark fuzzy splotches in the distance. His nautical senses told him they were somewhere off the coast of northern Florida, so they had come a long way overnight, farther than any mortal ship should've been able to travel.

The engine groaned as they increased speed.

Tyson muttered nervously, "Too much strain on the pistons. Not meant for deep water."

Percy looked nervous at that even though he did not know what it meant while Naruto groaned and he smacked his face. "Not to be rude, but couldn't have given us something for recent and that could handle deep sea travel?"

Clarisse didn't answer, too afraid of her father to do that.

After a few more minutes, the dark splotches ahead came into focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea—an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.

"Hurricane?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Clarisse said. "Charybdis."

Annabeth paled. "Are you crazy?"

"Oh this should be fun." Naruto dead panned as he took out Kusanagi for just in case.

"Only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla." Clarisse pointed to the top of the cliffs, making Percy gulp.

"What do you mean the only way?" Percy asked. "The sea is wide open! Just sail around them."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything? If I tried to sail around them, they would just appear in my path again. If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you have to sail through them."

"What about the Clashing Rocks?" Annabeth said. "That's another gateway. Jason used it."

"I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons," Clarisse said. "Monsters, on the other hand ..."

"You are crazy," Annabeth decided.

"But fun to be around." Naruto chimed in, making Annabeth look at him like he was nuts…again, while Clarisse smiled.

"Watch and learn, Wise Girl." Clarisse turned to the captain. "Set course for Charybdis!"

"Aye, m'lady."

The engine groaned, the iron plating rattled, and the ship began to pick up speed.

"Clarisse," Percy said, "Charybdis sucks up the sea. Isn't that the story?"

"And spits it back out again, yeah."

"What about Scylla?" he asked nervously.

"She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship." Naruto said for her. "Either way is not ideal, but not much we can do at the moment. I still say something from World War 2 would have been a lot more useful than something from the Civil War." He paused and looked the captain. "No offense to you guys or anything."

"None taken." The captain replied.

"Choose Scylla then," Percy said after he thought about it. "Everybody goes below deck and we chug right past."

"No!" Clarisse insisted. "If Scylla doesn't get her easy meat, she might pick up the whole ship. Besides, she's too high to make a good target. My cannons can't shoot straight up and I am not sure if Naruto has any jutsu that could hurt her way up there. Charybdis just sits there at the center of her whirlwind. We're going to steam straight toward her, train our guns on her, and blow her to Tartarus!"

For a moment, Percy believed her because she said it with such emotion. Naruto just smirked. He knew he did not have many long range jutsu, just destructive and in-your-face jutsu.

The engine hummed. The boilers were heating up so much they could feel the deck getting warm beneath their feet and it gave Naruto a bad feeling. The smokestacks billowed. The red Ares flag whipped in the wind.

As they got closer to the monsters, the sound of Charybdis got louder and louder—a horrible wet roar like the galaxy's biggest toilet being flushed. Every time Charybdis inhaled, the ship shuddered and lurched forward. Every time she exhaled, the ship rose in the water and was buffeted by ten-foot waves.

"Ugh, I think I am getting sea sick." Naruto said with a green face.

"NOW!" they all asked in disbelief.

Shaking his head, Percy tried to time the whirlpool. As near as he could figure, it took Charybdis about three minutes to suck up and destroy everything within a half-mile radius. To avoid her, they would have to skirt right next to Scylla's cliffs. And as bad as Scylla might be, those cliffs were looking awfully good to the water boy.

Undead sailors calmly went about their business on the spar deck. Percy guessed they'd fought a losing cause before, so this didn't bother them. Or maybe they didn't care about getting destroyed because they were already deceased. Neither thought make him feel any better.

Percy felt Naruto's hand on his shoulder again. "Don't worry so much. We'll be fine, I got you're back."

"This coming from the guy who gets sea sick by rough water." Percy said nervously.

"Meh, details." The blond said nonchalantly.

Annabeth stood next to the two, gripping the rail. "You still have your thermos full of wind?" She asked Percy, which made Naruto raise an eyebrow.

Percy nodded. "But it's too dangerous to use with a whirlpool like that. More wind might just make things worse."

"Wind? Damn, if your thermos full of…wind won't work, I doubt my **Great Breakthrough** jutsu would not work either.

"No, it wouldn't." Annabeth said with a frown as she thought about something before her eyes lit up. "Percy, what about water? You're Poseidon's son. You've done it before."

She was right about that, so Percy closed his eyes and tried to concentrate in calming the sea, but it wasn't working. Charybdis was too loud and powerful. The waves wouldn't respond to his commands. "I…I can't."

"We need a backup plan," Annabeth said. "This isn't going to work." She then looked to Naruto who paled.

"Don't look at me! I don't have any water jutsu that would be useful in this area!" Naruto explained.

"Annabeth is right," Tyson said. "Engine's no good."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Pressure. Pistons need fixing."

Before he could explain, the cosmic toilet flushed with a mighty roaaar! The ship lurched forward and they were thrown to the deck. They were in the whirlpool.

"Full reverse!" Clarisse screamed above the noise. The sea churned around them, waves crashing over the deck. The iron plating was now so hot it steamed. "Get us within firing range! Make ready starboard cannons!" Naruto made his way over to her, blade at the ready for just in case.

Dead Confederates rushed back and forth. The propeller grinded into reverse, trying to slow the ship, but they kept sliding toward the center of the vortex.

A zombie sailor burst out of the hold and ran to Clarisse. His gray uniform was smoking. His beard was on fire. "Boiler room overheating, ma'am! She's going to blow!"

"Well, get down there and fix it!"

"Can't!" the sailor yelled. "We're vaporizing in the heat."

Naruto cursed while Clarisse pounded the side of the casemate. "All I need is a few more minutes! Just enough to get in range!"

"We're going in too fast," the captain said grimly. "Prepare yourself for death."

"Hell no." Naruto growled.

"No!" Tyson bellowed. "I can fix it."

Clarisse looked at him incredulously. "You?"

"He's a Cyclops," Annabeth said. "He's immune to fire. And he knows mechanics."

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Go!" yelled Clarisse.

"Tyson, no!" Percy grabbed his arm. "It's too dangerous!"

He patted the shorter boy's hand. "Only way, brother." His expression was determined—confident, even. Percy had never seen him look like this before. "I will fix it. Be right back."

As Percy watched him follow the smoldering sailor down the hatch, he had a terrible gut feeling until he felt Naruto's hand on his shoulder. "I am worried too, just trust him ok?" Percy nodded hesitantly. Then they both paled, because they saw Charybdis. "HOLY CRAP! TYSON! HURRY UP!" Naruto freaked.

Charybdis appeared only a few hundred yards away, through a swirl of mist and smoke and water. The first thing they noticed was the reef—a black crag of coral with a fig tree clinging to the top, an oddly peaceful thing in the middle of a maelstrom. All around it, water curved into a funnel, like light around a black hole. Then they saw the horrible thing anchored to the reef just below the waterline—an enormous mouth with slimy lips and mossy teeth the size of rowboats. And worse, the teeth had braces, bands of corroded scummy metal with pieces of fish and driftwood and floating garbage stuck between them.

Charybdis was an orthodontist's nightmare. She was nothing but a huge black maw with bad teeth alignment and a serious overbite, and she'd done nothing for centuries but eat without brushing after meals. The entire sea around her was sucked into the void— sharks, schools of fish, a giant squid. It took them a moment until they realized that they would be next.

"Lady Clarisse," the captain shouted. "Starboard and forward guns are in range!"

"Fire!" Clarisse ordered.

Three rounds were blasted into the monster's maw. One blew off the edge of an incisor. Another disappeared into her gullet. The third hit one of Charybdis's retaining bands and shot back at us, snapping the Ares flag off its pole.

"Again!" Clarisse ordered as the gunners reloaded. Naruto growled as he noticed that it was getting hopeless. Cannon balls could only do so much against something this big, maybe jutsu, maybe not. Either way, they were being sucked in too quickly.

"**Hellfire Style: Burning Dragon!"** Naruto breathed in and then blew out the black burning dragon at the water beast. The black dragon vaporized a good amount of the water in its mouth and scorched some of it mouth as well. It roared out in pain.

"I think you made it mad!" Annabeth shouted in panic.

"It was worth a try!" Naruto shouted out nervously.

Then the vibrations in the deck changed. The hum of the engine got stronger and steadier. The ship shuddered and they started pulling away from the mouth.

"Tyson did it!" Annabeth said.

"Oh thank the gods for that." Naruto sighed in relief.

"Wait!" Clarisse said. "We need to stay close!"

"We'll die!" Percy said. "We have to move away."

Percy gripped the rail as the ship fought against the suction. The broken Ares flag raced past them and lodged in Charybdis's braces. They weren't making much progress, but at least they were holding our own. Tyson had somehow given them just enough juice to keep the ship from being sucked in.

Suddenly, the mouth snapped shut. The sea died to absolute calm. Water washed over Charybdis.

Then, just as quickly as it had closed, the mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water, ejecting everything inedible, including the cannonballs, one of which slammed into the side of the CSS Birmingham with a ding like the bell on a carnival game.

Then they were thrown backward on a wave that must've been forty feet high. Percy used all of his willpower to keep the ship from capsizing, but they were still spinning out of control, hurtling toward the cliffs on the opposite side of the strait.

"Ugh….and I thought before was bad." Naruto said sickly with swirly eyes.

Another smoldering sailor burst out of the hold. He stumbled into Clarisse, almost knocking them both over-board, Naruto caught them just in time. "The engine is about to blow!"

"Where's Tyson?" Percy demanded.

"Still down there," the sailor said. "Holding it together somehow, though I don't know for how much longer."

The captain said, "We have to abandon ship."

"No!" Clarisse yelled as Naruto put a hand on her tightly, having one of his gut feelings. Something bad always happened when he had those.

"We have no choice, m'lady. The hull is already crack-ing apart! She can't—"

He never finished his sentence. Quick as lightning, something brown and green shot from the sky, snatched up the captain, and lifted him away. All that was left were his leather boots.

"Crap! Where too close to Scylla!" Naruto growled as he himself dodged another column of flesh from the beast, only to catch a freaked out zombie man who yelled its name.

Percy tried to swipe at one, but missed. "Everyone get below!" he yelled after missing, not wanting to get caught.

"I don't know if you have forgotten, but below is all in flames!" Naruto shouted.

"Lifeboats!" Annabeth said. "Quick!"

"They'll never get clear of the cliffs," Clarisse said. "We'll all be eaten."

"We have to try. Percy, the thermos." Annabeth ordered

"I can't leave Tyson!"

"We have to get the boats ready!" Annabeth shouted.

Clarisse and Naruto nodded to each other as they took Annabeth's orders. This tub was a lost cause anyway, time to abandon ship! They, along with the undead soldiers uncovered one of the two emergency rowboats while Scylla's heads rained from the sky like a meteor shower with teeth, picking off Confederate sailors one after another.

"Get the other boat." Percy threw Annabeth the thermos. "I'll get Tyson."

"You can't!" she said. "The heat will kill you!"

Percy didn't listen. Naruto scowled when he heard Annabeth call out to her friend, but his eyes widened when he saw Percy being snatched up by his knapsack by Scylla. "Percy!" Thankfully, Percy used quick thinking and stabbed at the monster's eye, making it drop him.

KAROOM!

The engine room blew, sending chunks of ironclad flying in either direction like a fiery set of wings.

"Tyson!" Percy screamed out and Naruto cursed.

The lifeboats had managed to get away from the ship, but not very far. Flaming wreckage was raining down. Clarisse, Naruto, and Annabeth was either going to be smashed or burned or pulled to the bottom by the force of the sinking hull, and that was thinking optimistically, assuming they got away from Scylla. Thankfully, Naruto used his new sword to slice away any wreckage that came near them.

However, he froze when he heard another explosion. Only this one wasn't normal. It was like wind violently escaping a tightly encompassed space and he had a feeling that it was that theros Percy and Annabeth kept talking about.

It split up the group, sending Percy flying away from them like a rocket and into the sea nearby, Annabeth in the same direction. Naruto and Clarisse were violently buffeted by the wave of air and water. The two held on tight to each other as the madness continued and pushed them farther into the Sea of Monsters.

XXX

**Well, that was rather long. Hope I made this believable. Next chapter I am going to have them do some things that Jason and the Argonauts did. And since I am not going to do the second series, you will get to see a character from the second series. Take a guess.**

**REVIEW**


	11. Sea Serpents and the Crashing Rocks

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 11**

**Alright, you have waited enough for this new chapter. Not like I can find a job anyway, so might as well do this while I wait for the job market to open up and also listen to my dad bitch about me not being able to get a job. FUN! **

Naruto stared at the sky in boredom as he and Clarisse lay down on the raft they were in. He could not understand why Shikamaru did this for long periods at a time. It was so...boring! "Any clue where we are?"

"Nope." Clarisse deadpanned.

"Great." Naruto said as he got up to look around, only to find more ocean around them. It was nothing but blue all around them. Well, until he saw a flock of what looked to be like birds in the distance. "Ok…I think I see something. Though…I really don't think they are birds…"

"Oh?" Clarisse replied as she lifted herself up and looked. "They are too far away for me to tell."

"They are not birds." A female voice said next to them. "They are Ella's sisters."

"WHOA!" Naruto said as he rocked the boat in shock as he almost fell off. "Are you going to eat us….um….bird lady."

"I thought you said you knew a lot about Greek mythology." Clarisse responded.

"I don't, but at the moment, I am dehydrated and I don't feel like using my brain that much." Naruto complained.

"That's ok! Ella is a Harpy!" The bird lady stated with a smile.

"Yeah, as in a sister of Iris." Clarisse said before she smacked herself. "Oh man….we could have called for help!"

"Oh well." Naruto said drowsily.

"Wait, don't fall asleep! Ella needs your help!"

"What kind of help?"

"Ella's sisters are in danger! They may be feeding on a dead animal over there and not letting me have any like usual, but they are in the Serpent Zone!"

"The Serpent Zone?" the two demi-gods asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, large sea serpents are in these waters as well." Ella replied.

"Great." Naruto mumbled. "I need some drinking water before I can do any fighting."

"Oh here!" Ella said as she produced a bottle of water and gave it to him. Shrugging, the blond opened it and downed half of it. As he was giving the rest to his partner, he saw a large shadow form underneath the feeding Harpies. "Oh great…her they come."

"Just be careful!" Clarisse ordered.

"Don't worry, I will." He said as he stepped off the raft, standing on the water. "I'll be back." He shot off like a rocket to help the harpies. _Never thought I would be doing this!_

"Your friend is very brave…or very stupid." Ella replied.

"I think it is a mixture of both for him." Clarisse deadpanned, causing the harpy to giggle.

XXX

As Naruto walked to the mass of harpies, he unleashed his Kusanagi sword, which alerted the Harpies. However, they took it as him going to attack them and shrieked. Naruto, with an emotionless face, pointed his sword at them and sent chakra to it, extending the blade so far that it shot towards them.

However, they were all shocked that his missed every single one of them….until they heard the screech of an injured and rising sea serpent. They all flew away, panicked and thankful that whoever the blond was, who was saving their asses.

However, Naruto forgot one crucial detail, sea serpents are usually really. So when the sword was imbedded into its head, he was pulled along for the ride. "OH COME ON!"

The giant sea serpent flung him around until the sword came loose and he was free falling. That was all it needed to know as it swallowed Naruto whole. After that, it looked around at all the other harpies flying around and at the small raft where Clarisse and Ella were currently at.

Before he could actually make a move, a large sword pierce it from the inside before the sword went full circle, cutting it in half and killing it.

"Eeew!" Naruto complained as he was covered in guts. However, before he could complain further, he noticed there were more shadows in the water. Well…Ella did say that this was the Serpent Zone. "Terrific!"

As soon as her landed on the water, five more of the snake like creatures shot out of the water, looking to make him a meal. "Sorry Uncle P, but you're about to lose some sea creatures." He said before one of them lunged at him. He of course jumped just in time and landed in it dead before running along it body to avoid more strikes of the other creatures.

"This is getting old in a hurry!' Naruto growled as he dodged another strike, making creature he was on, bite itself. It roared in pain before it saw that Naruto was on its tail and it flicked him off, sending him into the air. Naruto put away his Kusanagi and brought out Fear and Destruction. With a wave of his fox like blade, he yelled, "**FOX TWISTER!"** That created a huge twisted of violent wind energy that sucked in the serpent, making it scream out in pain as the other four were sucked in as well.

No one would ever see those 5 again.

"Is he insane!" Ella asked fearfully as she and Clarisse held ont o the raft from dear life as the tornado raged on for a few more second before dissipating. The air borne harpies where having more trouble, but thankfully they were not sucked in.

"This is how he fights." Clarisse cried out.

"It is like being a hurricane!" Ella cried.

Naruto sighed as he was free falling again to the water. "This is going to hurt." However, the fight was not yet done as 7 more Sea Serpents shot out of the water, waiting for him. "Yeah…this is really going to hurt. Fuck it. **Wind Style: Vortex Cannon!"** He shot out a spiraling ball of wind from his fist and it hit the water that was in the middle of the group of sea snakes. That made them swirl around violently.

While they were distracted by their dizziness, he managed to get his black flame wings up. "I have go to end this soon. This is just ridiculous."

Soon, he spotted a landmark not too far away. It would seem that they drifted a lot since entering this place because he could see the Crashing Rocks. _Let's hope they reset themselves since dealing with Jason and the Argonauts. _ He thought before circling the sea serpents, getting their attention before flying off. They chased after him like he wanted.

"What is that idiot doing?" Clarisse asked.

I am not sure, but why is he heading for the Crashing Rocks?" Ella asked.

"The crashing what?" Clarisse roared as she began to paddle the raft in that direction, hoping to get a better look at what Naruto was planning. _That idiot better come out of this alive!_

As Naruto flew toward his destination, he remembered what he learned about this landmark and since he did not have bird to help him out, he took out a kunai and threw it at top speeds. The Crashing Rocks responded by crashing together and nicking the handle at the last second. That made Naruto smirk.

He flew faster, making the serpent work harder for their meal. They were so into trying to get Naruto, they never actually saw where they were heading until it was too late.

Naruto smirked as he flew in between the rocks, the serpent blindly following him. He then began to climb the air as the serpents stupidly tried snapping at him. Soon, he heard the rocks start to move and with one more flap, he push himself high above the rocks. Just in time too because they crashed together, splattering the 7 stupid sea serpents. He narrowly missed the guts the flew in his direction.

"Anyone up for crushed snake?" Naruto asked himself with a chuckle. Sure, it was not his best joke, but he could not think of one at the moment. Sighing, he flew along the water to where he left Clarisse and Ella.

Once there, Ella looked at him funny as he landed and the wings disappeared. "Ella does not understand. "How is a demi-god able to fly?"

"I am from the world that the gods sometimes visit." Naruto informed her. "So it is one of my powers."

"Impressive." Ella said before her sisters joined them.

It would seem that Ella was the exception to these being because she was not ugly as hell like them. "We thank you young hero! We thought you were going to attack us, but you saved us from being eaten ourselves!"

"Hey, it was no problem, but you should be thanking you sister Ella. She is the one that warned me about what was going to happen." Naruto informed the leader.

"Yes we should." The leader said irritably. "Even though we don't treat her well just because she is different, doesn't mean she is family. She has already proven that to us." The leader pause for a minute and said, "Is there anything we can do for you young heroes?"

"Could you point us in the right direction to Polyphemus' island? We are on a quest to get the Golden Fleece." Clarisse asked.

"Ah, just like Jason!" The leader screeched. "Ella will take you! She knows these waters well!"

With that, the harpies all left, not even saying goodbye to her sister. Naruto scowled at them, before he turned to the pretty harpy. "If you could take us, we would like that very much."

"I would be happy too since you helped me. It is only fair that Ella helps you like Ella said Ella would." The woman said cheerfully, but the third person speech was getting on Naruto's nerves somewhat.

"Well Ella, welcome to our rag tag group." Naruto said with a chuckle, even as Clarisse hit him on the shoulder.

As they were heading out in the right direction this time, Naruto piped up. "Hey Clarisse."

"Yeah blondie?"

"If Percy and Annabeth somehow ended up on some sea resort while we had to fight off Sea Serpents, I might just kill him." He replied, which made the girl laugh her ass off, hoping that was the case.

XXX

"This is it?" Naruto asked as they arrived at their destination. The island looked more like what you would see on a post card that some monster's lair. I mean, other than a rope bridge across a chasm, it looked like the perfect vacation spot.

"Yeah. It is the effects of the Fleece that make this place so…lively." Clarisse replied as she too looked around in awe.

"Amazing, but Ella must go."

"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked in curiosity.

"Ella must return to her sisters."

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked. "You said they don't treat you right, so I don't see why you are going back to them. I mean, it is your life, you should decide what to do, not let them do it for you."

"Ella sees….Ella with think on it." She replied thoughtfully before taking off.

Clarisse turned to her blond crush and asked, "You would really want Ella to join us?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't see why not, I mean I have gotten used to Tyson and his is a Cyclopes!"

"You have a point." Clarisse mumbled before saying, "Alright, let's get this quest done and over with!"

"Right!" Naruto shouted as they charged across the bridge.

They didn't know that Ella heard every word they said, making her wonder who Tyson was.

XXX

The duo made their way to a large field where a lone tree sat and on that tree was the Golden Fleece. "Ok, this should be easy." Clarisse replied, ignoring all the sheep in the area.

Naruto, however, looked grim. Nothing was ever that easy for them. So he held out his arm. Clarisse what to yell at him but he just pointed to a lone squirrel on the field. They watched as the squirrel made its way to the tree, only for the sheep to go feral and rip apart the poor creature. All that was left were the bones. "Oh yeah…it is never that easy." Naruto replied while Clarisse had a pale face.

But before they could even think of how to get it, Naruto was suddenly picked up and thrown towards the beach. The last thing he saw before he hit the beach and passed out was Clarisse being picked up by Polyphemus himself. _Aw….shit._

**XXX**

**That was a pain to get out of my head. Anyway, next chapter should be normal length. So no flames! Oh and please tell me. Since i am not doing the second series...should i have Ella join them later?  
**

**Review. Oh and thanks for being patient with me.**


	12. Nobody and Somebody

**NPU: Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 12**

**Man, this is long overdue. Here is this chapter for Christmas! Been distracted with getting a job, The REAL Fifth Hokage, and the second Tales of Symphonia game. Oh joy right?**

XXX

Percy and Annabeth made it…somewhat safely to the Island of Polyphemus. After dealing with Circe and some Sirens…they were not expecting to see a monster's island that looked like a Caribbean get away.

Once Annabeth saw it, she breathed in the sweet air and said, "The Fleece."

Percy nodded. He couldn't see the Fleece yet, but he could feel its power. He could believe it would heal anything, even Thalia's poisoned tree. "If we take it away, will the island die?"

Annabeth shook her head. "It'll fade. Go back to what it would be normally, whatever that is."

Percy felt a little guilty about ruining this paradise, but he reminded himself that they had no choice. Camp Half-Blood was in trouble. And Tyson ... Tyson would still be with them if it wasn't for this quest. Hell, so would Naruto…where he was.

In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge—the size of hippos. Just past them was a path that led up into the hills. At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, was the massive oak tree he'd seen in his dreams. Something gold glittered in its branches.

"This is too easy," Percy said. "We could just hike up there and take it?"

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "There's supposed be a guardian. A dragon or ..."

That's when a deer emerged from the bushes. It trotted into the meadow, probably looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at once and rushed the animal. It happened so fast that the deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves.

Grass and tufts of fur flew into the air.

A second later the sheep all moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings. Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones.

Annabeth and Percy exchanged looks.

"They're like piranhas," she said.

"Piranhas with wool. How will we—"

"Percy!" Annabeth gasped, grabbing the male demi-god's arm. "Look."

She pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run aground ... the other lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham. And right next to it was a human sized crater with his blond friend in it.

"NARUTO!" Percy yelled in shock before then quickly ran over to him.

They managed to get on either side of him and shook him slightly. They knew if he had any broken bones it would have healed by now thanks to his healing factor. But still, they had to wonder what put him in this crater.

Naruto managed to get him into a sitting position as he was slowly waking up. "Damn….what the hell hit me."

"We were hoping you could answer that for us, Naruto." Annabeth stated.

Naruto blinked as he heard her voice before he looked to the two and smiled. 'Well glad to see you two alive." He said as he held his before his eyes went wide. "SHIT! POLYPHEMUS HAD CLARISSE!"

"Wha?" Percy began, not believing it. Even Annabeth seemed skeptical, but it was possible…of course the girl probably went kicking and screaming. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah and it is because of him I am in this crater." Naruto said before an evil smirk come on to his face. "That dude is already blind….i wonder what a rasengan to the eye would do to him."

"Now is not the time for that Naruto." Annabeth said, not liking that evil look on him. "We have to save Clarisse and get the fleece before it is too late.

"Oh…right." Naruto deadpanned before he shrugged. "So…how did you get here anyway?"

"We took a pirate ship." Percy replied.

"Lucky bastard. " Naruto grumbled, making the two laugh. "Wait, who did you get that?"

"We ended up at Circe's resort/death trap and stole it off Black Beard." Percy replied but he regretted saying that.

"So you ended up at a resort spa like place for girl and death trap for guys….while we had to deal with sea serpents and the crashing rocks…..remind me to kick r ass later on."

XXX

They decided there was no way that they could get past the man-eating sheep. Annabeth wanted to sneak up the path invisibly and grab the Fleece, but in the end the boys convinced her that something would go wrong. The sheep would smell her. Another guardian would appear. Something. And if that happened, they'd be too far away to help.

Besides, their first job was to find Grover and Clarisse. Perc was too nervous to say what he was secretly hoping ...that Tyson might still be alive. Naruto could tell the boy was grieving about his half-brother, but he wisely said nothing…not really knowing what to say.

So in the end, they decided that climbing was their best bet, so they took the raft and rowed to the other side where it was more mountainous. At least it was free of sheep. They hoped that Polyphemus did not also keep carnivorous mountain goats. That would really suck.

They only came close to dying six or seven times, which Percy thought was pretty good. Once, he lost his grip and found himself dangling by one hand from a ledge fifty feet above the rocky surf. But he found another handhold and kept climbing. A minute later Annabeth hit a slippery patch of moss and her foot slipped. Fortunately, she found something else to put it against.

Unfortunately, that something was his face. Naruto had no problem because all he had to do was literally walk up the side of the mountain, and he found his amusement by watch them scrambled up the mountain, must to their dismay as they finally made it up there and collapsed, gasping for air.

"Heh, what took ya guys so long?" Naruto said cheekily.

"Can it." Percy panted, getting a chuckle from the male blond.

"Garrr!" bellowed another voice.

The three whirled around in panic as Annabeth clamped a hand over Percy's mouth to keep him from speaking while Naruto stared intently.

The ledge they were sitting on was narrower than they had realized. It dropped off on the opposite side, and that's where the voice was coming from—right below them.

"You're a feisty one!" the deep voice bellowed.

"Challenge me!" Clarisse's voice, no doubt about it. "Give me back my sword and I'll fight you!"

The monster roared with laughter.

The trio of demi-gods crept to the edge to listen more. They were right above the entrance of the Cyclops's cave. Below them stood Polyphemus and Grover, still in his wedding dress, which made Naruto snicker a bit until he saw that Clarisse was tied up, hanging upside down over a pot of boiling water. Percy was half hoping to see Tyson down there, too. Even if he'd been in danger, at least he would've known he was alive. But there was no sign of him.

"Hmm," Polyphemus pondered. "Eat loudmouth girl now or wait for wedding feast? What does my bride think?"

"Like hell." Naruto growled. "He won't eat if I have anything to say about it."

Polyphemus turned to Grover, who backed up and almost tripped over his completed bridal train. "Oh, um, I'm not hungry right now, dear. Perhaps—"

"Did you say bride?" Clarisse demanded. "Who— Grover?"

Next to me, Annabeth muttered, "Shut up. She has to shut up."

"What did you expect?" Naruto sighed. "She is a fighter…not a thinker." That made Annabeth sigh in defeat. He had a good point.

Polyphemus glowered. "What 'Grover'?"

"The satyr!" Clarisse yelled.

"Oh!" Grover yelped. "The poor thing's brain is boiling from that hot water. Pull her down, dear!"

Polyphemus's eyelids narrowed over his baleful milky eye, as if he were trying to see Clarisse clearly.

The Cyclops was an even more horrible sight than he had been in their dreams. Partly because his rancid smell was now up close and personal. Partly because he was dressed in his wedding outfit—a crude kilt and shoulder-wrap, stitched together from baby-blue tuxedoes, as if the he'd skinned an entire wedding party.

"What satyr?" asked Polyphemus. "Satyrs are good eating. You bring me a satyr?"

"No, you big idiot!" bellowed Clarisse. "That satyr! Grover! The one in the wedding dress!"

By this point, Naruto was banging his head on the stone floor while Annabeth's head on his her hands and Percy just wanted to ring her neck, but it was too late. All they could do was watch as Polyphemus turned and ripped off Grover's wedding veil—revealing his curly hair, his scruffy adolescent beard, his tiny horns.

Polyphemus breathed heavily, trying to contain his anger. "I don't see very well," he growled. "Not since many years ago when the other hero stabbed me in eye. But YOU'RE—NO— LADY—CYCLOPS!"

The Cyclops grabbed Grover's dress and tore it away. Underneath, the old Grover reappeared in his jeans and T-shirt. He yelped and ducked as the monster swiped over his head.

"Stop!" Grover pleaded. "Don't eat me raw! I—I have a good recipe!"

"What? Has the stupidity gone to him now to?" Naruto growled and both he and Percy reached for their swords.

"Wait!" Annabeth hissed.

Polyphemus was hesitating, a boulder in his hand, ready to smash his would-be bride. "Recipe?" he asked Grover.

"Oh y-yes! You don't want to eat me raw. You'll get E coli and botulism and all sorts of horrible things. I'll taste much better grilled over a slow fire. With mango chutney! You could go get some mangos right now, down there in the woods. I'll just wait here."

The monster pondered this before Naruto spoke up, "You know, that actually sounds good." The other two glared at him. "Bad joke?"

"What do you think?" Percy hissed.

"Sorry, Sorry." Naruto said in a pleading manner. "I was just joking anyway." _Mostly….i haven't eaten in a while…_

"Grilled satyr with mango chutney," Polyphemus mused. He looked back at Clarisse, still hanging over the pot of boiling water. "You a satyr, too?"

"No, you overgrown pile of dung!" she yelled. "I'm a girl! The daughter of Ares! Now untieme so I can rip your arms off!"

"Rip my arms off," Polyphemus repeated.

"And stuff them down your throat!"

"You got spunk." The giant said, making Naruto smirk.

"Let me down!"

Polyphemus snatched up Grover as if he were a wayward puppy. "Have to graze sheep now.

Wedding postponed until tonight. Then we'll eat satyr for the main course!"

"But ... you're still getting married?" Grover sounded hurt. "Who's the bride?"

Polyphemus looked toward the boiling pot.

Clarisse made a strangled sound. "Oh, no! You can't be serious. I'm not—"

Before Annabeth or I could do anything, Polyphemus plucked her off the rope like she was a ripe apple, and tossed her and Grover deep into the cave. "Make yourself comfortable! I come back at sundown for big event!"

"NO YOU OVER GROWN MORON!" Clarisse screamed. "I won't marry you…EVER! Besides, I wait for a certain blond moron to finally see that being with someone in a tree that might never come out to it is a wasted effort and come to me! So no thanks!"

"Girl in tree?" the giant asked, very confused before he shrugged. "To bad for him then."\

Annabeth and Percy gave Naruto a deadpanned looked, who asked, "What? I know she likes me." That made them blink owlishly. Naruto actually knew that someone liked him! The world must be ending. "She made that clear when she kissed me on the boat….but I made a promise to Thalia to get her out of them tree." Annabeth then shook her head while Percy just blinked stupidly.

Then the Cyclops whistled, and a mixed flock of goats and sheep—smaller than the maneaters— flooded out of the cave and past their master. As they went to pasture, Polyphemus patted some on the back and called them by name—Beltbuster, Tammany, Lockhart, etc.

When the last sheep had waddled out, Polyphemus rolled a boulder in front of the doorway as easily as someone would close a refrigerator door, shutting off the sound of Clarisse and Grover screaming inside.

"Mangos," Polyphemus grumbled to himself. "What are mangos?"

He strolled off down the mountain in his baby-blue groom's outfit, leaving them alone with a pot of boiling water and a six-ton boulder.

XXX

While the three decided on how to get in the cave, Grover was pacing while Clarisse was punching the rock. "That's not going to work, you know?"

"I don't care! I won't be married to that…thing!" Clarisse panicked.

Grover looked at the tough girl and sighed. "You really like Naruto, don't you?"

"Yeah." Clarisse said with a sigh as she went over and plopped down next to the now sitting satyr. "He is an awesome fighter, but I guess that comes with being from the ninja world."

"That can't be the only reason." Grover asked.

"No…it is not." The war girl replied with a smile. "He is a nice guy and doesn't treat me like a crazy bitch. I know I can go overboard with fighting and being abrasive. He treats me like a normal human being and he is a good person to be around." She paused and said, "If you repeat what I have said to ANYONE. I will skin you alive."

"Right…." Grover said nervously while also feeling sorry for Naruto.

XXX

They tried for what seemed like hours, but it was no good. The boulder wouldn't move. They yelled into the cracks, tapped on the rock, did everything they could think of to get a signal to Grover, but if he heard them, they couldn't tell.

Even if by some miracle we managed to kill Polyphemus, it wouldn't do us any good. Hell, if Naruto managed to thrust a Rasengan his eye like he wanted to, Grover and Clarisse would die inside that sealed cave. The only way to move the rock was to have the Cyclops do it.

In total frustration, Percy stabbed Riptide against the boulder. Sparks flew, but nothing else happened. A large rock is not the kind of enemy you can fight with a magic sword. Naruto thought about and used both the normal and Oodama Rasengan, but it only put a good sized dent into the extra-large six ton boulder. "The hell, is this thing protected by magic?" Naruto growled while Annabeth shrugged.

They sat on the ridge in despair and watched the distant baby-blue shape of the Cyclops as he moved among his flocks. He had wisely divided his regular animals from his man-eating sheep, putting each group on either side of the huge crevice that divided the island. The only way across was the rope bridge, and the planks were much too far apart for sheep hooves.

They watched as Polyphemus visited his carnivorous flock on the far side. Unfortunately, they didn't eat him. In fact, they didn't seem to bother him at all. He fed them chunks of mystery meat from a great wicker basket, which only reinforced the feelings Percy had been having since Circe turned he into a guinea pig—that maybe it was time he joined Grover and became a vegetarian. Naruto sighed boredly.

"Trickery," Annabeth decided. "We can't beat him by force, so we'll have to use trickery."

"Okay," Percy said. "What trick?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet." Annabeth shrugged sheepishly.

The boys looked at her with a dead panned expression. "Great."

"Polyphemus will have to move the rock to let the sheep inside." Annabeth explained.

"At sunset." Naruto offered.

"Which is when he'll marry Clarisse and have Grover for dinner. I'm not sure which is grosser." Percy replied, getting a glare for Naruto.

"I could get inside," she said, "invisibly."

"What about us?"

"The sheep." Annabeth replied with a sly smirk. "How much do you two like sheep?"

Naruto looked at her stupidly before a fox like smirk appeared on his face and Annabeth smiled at seeing that he got it. She wanted to use trickery, she was going to get it.

XXX

"Just don't let go!" Annabeth said, standing invisibly some-where off to Percy's right. That was easy for her to say. She wasn't hanging upside down from the belly of a sheep. Naruto, the sheep, to be more exact.

"We _never_ speak of this, got it?" Naruto growled out. Percy just nodded. How Annabeth pushed them into this, they will never understand.

The sun was going down.

No sooner were they in position than the Cyclops roared, "Oy! Goaties! Sheepies!"

The flock dutifully began trudging back up the slopes toward the cave.

"This is it!" Annabeth whispered. "I'll be close by. Don't worry."

As soon as they made it to the entrance of the cave, Polyphemus began to pet his sheep. "Hasenpfeffer!" the Cyclops said, patting one of the sheep in front of me. "Einstein! Widget—eh there, Widget!"

Polyphemus patted Naruto the and nearly knocked Percy to the ground while Naruto's legs buckled under the weight. "Putting on some extra mutton there?"

_Uh-oh_, Percy thought. _Here it comes_.

But Polyphemus just laughed and swatted the sheep's rear end, propelling them forward. "Go on, fatty! Soon Polyphemus will eat you for breakfast!"

Naruto silently growled at that. "Who are you calling fatty…"

"Shut up…we are almost in there." Percy hissed and a few seconds later, there made their way in, hoping that Annabeth pulled off her distraction soon before giant idiot closed the door.

XXX

The Cyclops was about to roll the stone back into place, when from somewhere outside Annabeth shouted, "Hello, ugly!"

Polyphemus stiffened. "Who said that?"

"Nobody!" Annabeth yelled.

That got exactly the reaction she'd been hoping for. The monster's face turned red with rage.

"Nobody!" Polyphemus yelled back. "I remember you!"

"You're too stupid to remember anybody," Annabeth taunted. "Much less Nobody."

Percy hoped to the gods she was already moving when she said that, because Polyphemus bellowed furiously, grabbed the nearest boulder (which happened to be his front door) and threw it toward the sound of Annabeth's voice. He heard the rock smash into a thousand fragments. He then smelled something….before he noticed that the sheep he was still clinging to was a real sheep.

Naruto's voice broke out, saying, "Oi! Moron! I am Nobody's friend. I am Somebody!"

"ARGH! So Nobody has brought a friend! I will kill you both!" The giant said before he threw another boulder and obviously missed.

For a terrible moment, there was silence. Then Annabeth shouted, "You haven't learned to throw any better, either!"

Polyphemus howled. "Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!"

"You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf," she taunted. "Come find me!"

"Aw…he is way too slow." Naruto taunted. "You would think after all these years, he would be smarter and could throw better."

"You are right Somebody, this guy is just a stupid Oaf!" Annabeth laughed.

Polyphemus barreled down the hill toward her voice. Now, if you don't know the story behind 'Nobody' them you have never heard of what Odysseus did to the giant Cyclopes. Of course, that was centuries ago….so yeah. Oh and the reason the giant is partially blind is because that man put a giant stick his eye. Fun!

While Annabeth and sheep Naruto messed with the giant's head, Percy got off the real Widget and patted his head, saying sorry for both him and Naruto. He looked toward the two….well they were kind of invisible, what with Annabeth's cap and Naruto's Jutsu. He just hoped they stayed alive long enough for him to find Grover and Clarisse.

The cave was bigger than most would think. It was basically a maze for those who have never been there. So after he ran down corridors littered with bones, past rooms full of sheepskin rugs and life-size cement sheep that he recognized as the work of Medusa. There were collections of sheep T-shirts; large tubs of lanolin cream; and wooly coats, socks, and hats with ram's horns. Finally, he found the spinning room, where Grover was huddled in the corner, trying to cut Clarisse's bonds with a pair of safety scissors.

"It's no good," Clarisse said. "This rope is like iron!"

"Just a few more minutes!"

"Grover," she cried, exasperated. "You've been working at it for hours!" It was then they saw the water boy. "Percy?" Clarisse said. "You're supposed to be blown up!"

"Good to see you, too. Now hold still while I—"

"Perrrrrcy!" Grover bleated and tackled him with a goat-hug. "You heard me! You came!"

"Yeah, buddy," Percy said. "Of course I came."

"Where's Annabeth and Naruto?"

"Outside," Percy said. "But there's no time to talk. Clarisse, hold still."

Percy uncapped Riptide and sliced off her ropes. She stood stiffly, rubbing her wrists. She glared at him for a moment, then looked at the ground and mumbled, "Thanks. So Naruto is ok?"

"Yeah, we found him in a crater at the beach, but he is fine. He is helping Annabeth distract Polyphemus. Oh and your welcome." Percy replied. "Now, was anyone else on board your lifeboat?"

Clarisse looked surprised. "No. Just me, Naruto, and some crazy harpy named Ella. Everybody else aboard the Birmingham ... well, I didn't even know you guys made it out."

Percy looked down, trying not to believe that his last hope of seeing Tyson alive had just been crushed. "Okay. Come on, then. We have to help—"

An explosion echoed through the cave, followed by a scream that told him that they might be too late. It was Annabeth crying out in fear before Naruto yelled in anger.

XXX

**And there you all go! This chapter is out and I had fun writing.**

**Review!**


	13. Taking the Fleece

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 13**

"I got Nobody!" Polyphemus gloated.

The group crept to the cave entrance and saw the Cyclops, grinning wickedly, holding up empty air. The monster shook his fist, and a baseball cap fluttered to the ground. There was Annabeth, hanging upside down by her legs.

"Hah!" the Cyclops said. "Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!"

Annabeth struggled, but she looked dazed. She had a nasty cut on her forehead. Her eyes were glassy.

"I'll rush him," I whispered to Clarisse. "Our ship is around the back of the island. You and

Grover—"

"No way," they said at the same time. Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible ram's horn spear from the Cyclops's cave. Grover had found a sheep's thigh bone, which he didn't look too happy about, but he was gripping it like a club, ready to attack.

"We'll take him together," Clarisse growled.

"Yeah," Grover said. Then he blinked, like he couldn't believe he'd just agreed with Clarisse about something.

"Now that's teamwork." Naruto's voice said from next to them, but with his jutsu still active, they could not see him.

"All right," Percy said. "Attack plan Macedonia."

They nodded. They'd all taken the same training courses at Camp Half-Blood. They knew what the water boy was talking about. They would sneak around either side and attack the Cyclops from the flanks while someone else held his attention in the front. With Naruto's help, they would get this done easily.

Percy hefted his sword and shouted, "Hey, Ugly!"

The giant whirled toward him. "Another one? Who are you?"

"Put down my friend. I'm the one who insulted you."

"You are Nobody?"

"That's right, you smelly bucket of nose drool!" It didn't sound quite as good as Annabeth's , but it was all he could think of. "I'm Nobody and I'm proud of it! Now, put her down and get over here. I want to stab your eye out again."

"RAAAR!" he bellowed.

The good news that came from that roar was that the idiot dropped Annanebth, but she was going to land on her head, luckily for her, she saw caught, but it looked like she was floating in midair. Naruto then appeared. "Wow, that was close." He said, catching the giant's attention, but his attention was on the rag doll Annabeth. Apparently, all that shaking around had knocked her out. He looked up just in time to see the giant angry gaze upon him. "Oh and just so you know, I am Somebody."

Naruto jumped away laughing as the giant Cyclopes roared again. This time, he decided to charge the poor water boy. This had Percy panicking. Why? Well you would too if a thousand pounds of smelly Cyclopes came barreling toward you and you only had a small sword to protect yourself with. Yeah, not fun.

"For Pan!" Grover rushed in from the right. He threw his sheep bone, which bounced harmlessly off the monster's forehead. Clarisse ran in from the left and set her spear against the ground just in time for the Cyclops to step on it. He wailed in pain, and Clarisse dove out of the way to avoid getting trampled. But the Cyclops just plucked out the shaft like a large splinter and kept advancing on Percy.

Percy managed to move in. The monster then made a grab for him, but he managed to roll out of the way and stab the monster in the thigh. He was hoping that would have dissolved it, but it was way too powerful for that.

Naruto seeing that they needed help, called out, "Grover! Get over here!"

"What is it?" The half goat boy asked as he made his way over to the blond.

"Look, I know you don't like fighting, but please stay here and protect Annabeth, I am going to help them." Naruto order and Grover happily agreed. "And get her over to the beach, I have a feeling that we will need to get out her in a hurry."

Grover nodded before he scooped up the blond girl's cap and made his way to the beach with her.

Naruto turned back to the fight and charged in with Clarisse. The girl smirked when she saw him and charged in with him. Percy watched in amazement as the two out maneuvered the giant with ease. Clarisse was pretty fast as when the giant tried to stomp on her or make a grab at her, she would quickly get out of the way.

Naruto teased the enraged monster with a smile on his face and he used no jutsu to help him. Percy guessed that they would be useless in a fight like this. Of course they could have finished off the monster by now if he had.

Watching them got at it was like watching a dance, they dodged with ease and Percy took their distraction as incentive to stab at the monster's legs when he had a chance.

However, even with his blond friend's crazy ass stamina, they would tire out eventually and then the monster would get in a lucky shot and it would be all over for them. Looking toward the beach, he saw that Grover and had taken Naruto's orders the goat boy carrying Annabeth across the bridge. However, that gave him an idea….even with all the man eating sheep on the other side.

"Fall back!" Percy told Clarisse and Naruto.

Clarisse rolled away as the Cyclops's fist smashed the olive tree beside her, but that was what Naruto needed as he punched out the monster, dazing it for a second.

They ran for the bridge, Polyphemus right behind them. He was cut up and hobbling from so many wounds, but all they had done was slow him down and make him mad.

"Grind you into sheep chow!" he promised. "A thousand curses on Nobody and Somebody!"

"Faster!" Percy yelled to his friends.

"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" Naruto laughed as they ran, but Clarisse clocked him on the head.

"NOW IS NO THE TIME FOR PERVERTED JOKES YOU IDIOT!" She yelled.

"Sorry." Naruto chuckled a bit as he rubbed the back of his head while Percy rolled his eyes.

They tore down the hill. The bridge was their only chance. Grover had just made it to the other side and was setting Annabeth down. They had to make it across, too, before the giant caught them.

"Grover!" Percy yelled. "Get Annabeth's knife!"

His eyes widened when he saw the Cyclops behind us, but he nodded like he understood. As the three scrambled across the bridge, Grover began sawing at the ropes. Naruto, who got the idea, too out some kunai and threw them at some of the ropes that connected the bridge and sliced them.

They heard a multitude of snaps and that made them run faster, not wanting to fall with the bridge.

Polyphemus bounded after them, making the bridge sway wildly.

The ropes were now three quarters of the way cut. Clarisse, Naruto, and Percy dove for solid ground, landing beside Grover. Percy quickly got up and made a wild slash with his sword and cut the remaining ropes.

The bridge fell away into the chasm, and the Cyclops howled ... with delight, because he was standing right next to us.

"Failed!" he yelled gleefully. "Nobody failed!"

"Great." Naruto got out sarcastically, making the giant glare at him.

"Somebody failed as well!"

Clarisse, Naruto, and Grover tried to charge him, but the monster swatted them aside like flies, However, Naruto managed to hold on to the monster's giant fist before running up it and punching him in the face.

While our favorite blond fought the oversized idiot, Percy's mind was filling with rage at see his friend get swatted away like that, especially when he saw the monster manage to catch the whisker blond and throw him away. He did not believe he could have failed after all that happened, including losing Tyson. They were losing because of some idiot in a baby blue tuxedo kilt who was bashing that around with no problem. Nobody hurt his friends….and not he nobody that the monster thought was a person….eh…you know what I mean.

Strength coursed through Percy's body. He raised his sword and attacked, forgetting that he was hopelessly outmatched. He jabbed the Cyclops in the belly. When he doubled over the water boy smacked him in the nose with the hilt of his sword. Percy slashed and kicked and bashed until the next thing he knew, Polyphemus was sprawled on his back, dazed and groaning, and he was standing above the monster, the tip of his sword hovering over the giant's eye.

"Uhhhhhhhh," Polyphemus moaned.

"Percy!" Grover gasped. "How did you—"

"Oh I think I know." Naruto said as he smiled as he his friend, while Grover looked at the blond, wanting an answer. He just waved the goat boy off, signaling that he would tell him later.

"Please, noooo!" the Cyclops moaned, pitifully staring up at me. His nose was bleeding. A tear welled in the corner of his half-blind eye. "M-m-my sheepies need me. Only trying to protect my sheep!"

He began to sob.

Percy had won. All he had to do was stab—one quick strike.

"Kill him!" Clarisse yelled. "What are you waiting for?"

"Hey man, it is up to you what you do." Naruto said leisurely as he lay on his back still and was staring at the clouds of all things. "Just do what you think is right."

The Cyclops sounded so heartbroken, just like ... like Tyson. Percy was having trouble on what to decide.

"He's a Cyclops!" Grover warned. "Don't trust him!"

Percy knew he was right. He knew Annabeth would've said the same thing. However, what Naruto said was right, it was his choice. But Polyphemus sobbed ... and for the first time it sank in that he was a son of Poseidon, too. Like Tyson. Like himself. How could he just kill him in cold blood?

"We only want the Fleece," Percy told the monster. "Will you agree to let us take it?"

"No!" Clarisse shouted. "Kill him! Naruto! Say something!" The blond just sighed and muttered out a troublesome before blinking owlishly at what he mumbled.

The monster sniffed. "My beautiful Fleece. Prize of my collection. Take it, cruel human. Take it and go in peace."

"I'm going to step back slowly," Percy told the monster. "One false move ..."

Polyphemus nodded like he understood.

Percy stepped back ... and as fast as a cobra, Polyphemus smacked him to the edge of the cliff.

"Foolish mortal!" he bellowed, rising to his feet. "Take my Fleece? Ha! I eat you first."

He opened his enormous mouth, and the water boy knew that his rotten molars were the last things he would ever see.

Then something went whoosh over the small boy's head and thump!

A rock the size of a basketball sailed into Polyphemus's throat—a beautiful three-pointer, nothing but net. The Cyclops choked, trying to swallow the unexpected pill. He staggered backward, but there was no place to stagger. His heel slipped, the edge of the cliff crumbled, and the great Polyphemus made chicken wing motions that did nothing to help him fly as he tumbled into the chasm.

Percy turned.

Halfway down the path to the beach, standing completely unharmed in the midst of a flock of killer sheep, was an old friend.

"Bad Polyphemus," Tyson said. "Not all Cyclopes as nice as we look."

Naruto chuckled, "About time you made it Tyson."

"You knew he was here?" Clarisse and Grover shouted in shock.

"Well I am a ninja after all. I sensed his energy when he arrived. Why do you think I just laid here?" Naruto explained.

Clarisse went red faced before she too got up and stomped over to the blond. "YOU IDIOT!" She screamed as she raised her foot up to stomp on him.

"NOT THE FACE!" Naruto pleaded before there was thump that made all three boy cringe "UGH! Not the nuts either!"

XXX

As Naruto was nursing his wounds, Tyson gave them the short version: Rainbow the hippocampus—who'd apparently been following them ever since the Long Island Sound, waiting for Tyson to play with him—had found Tyson sinking beneath the wreckage of the CSS Birmingham and pulled him to safety. He and Tyson had been searching the Sea of Monsters ever since, trying to find them, until Tyson caught the scent of sheep and found this island.

Also, apparently, he saw the tail end of Naruto's fight with a bunch of sea serpents and then take off with Clarisse and a pretty girl with wings. Said pretty girl with wings is also what brought the two to the island other than the scent. Ella smirked as she landed a few feet from them.

Percy wanted to hug the big oaf, except he was standing in the middle of killer sheep. "Tyson, thank the gods. Annabeth is hurt!"

"You thank the gods she is hurt?" he asked, puzzled.

"So silly!" Ella said. "He thanks them that you are alive, but is also telling you that she is hurt."

"Oh." The young Cyclopes replied.

"NO! She is hurt!" Percy said in a panic. He did see that there was a gash on her forehead….obviously; the old giant hit her against something. It looked pretty bad.

"Well…that does look bad," Naruto stated while he smiled at Percy's panic over the blond girl's health. "Ella or Tyson, would you mind getting the Fleece for us?"

"Which one?" Tyson said, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.

"In the tree!" Percy said. "The gold one!"

"Oh. Pretty. Yes." Tyson said cheerfully while Ella landed on shoulder, making the Cyclopes blush, which made Naruto smirk despite the situation. He saw Clarisse look at the scene with a small smile as well. Maybe….maybe if he could not free Thalia…that could be together someday like she wanted? Who knows…

Tyson lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep. If any of the others had tried to approach the

Fleece, they would've been eaten alive, but they guessed that Tyson smelled like Polyphemus, because the flock didn't bother him at all. They never even bother to jump at Ella. They just cuddled up to him and bleated affectionately, as though they expected to get sheep treats from the big wicker basket. Tyson reached up and lifted the Fleece off its branch. Immediately the leaves on the oak tree turned yellow. Tyson started wading back toward them, but Percy yelled, "No time! Throw it!"

The gold ram skin sailed through the air like a glittering shag Frisbee. Percy caught it with a grunt. It was heavier than he had expected—sixty or seventy pounds of precious gold wool.

"That wasn't the best way to do that." Naruto chuckled at his friend expense, making the water boy roll his eyes before he spread the Fleece over Annabeth, covering everything but her face, and prayed silently to all the gods he could think of, even the ones he didn't like.

_Please. Please._

The color returned to her face. Her eyelids fluttered open. The cut on her forehead began to close. She saw Grover and said weakly, "You're not... married?"

Grover grinned. "No. My friends talked me out of it."

"Yeah, we would not let him make that mistake." Naruto laughed as he gave Grover a noggie, making the girl laugh softly.

"Annabeth," Percy said, concerned for the blond girl "just lay still."

But despite everyone's protests she sat up, and they noticed that the cut on her face was almost completely healed. She looked a lot better. In fact, she shimmered with health, as if someone had injected her with glitter.

Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. "Down!" he told them as they tried to climb him, looking for food. A few were sniffing in our direction. "No, sheepies. This way! Come here!"

They heeded him, but it was obvious they were hungry, and they were starting to realize Tyson didn't have any treats for them. They wouldn't hold out forever with so much fresh meat nearby.

"And that is our queue to get out of here while we can." Naruto stated before turning to Ella. "Hey Ella, are you coming with us?"

"Ella thinks so. Her sisters won't miss her." She replied, still on Tyson's shoulder.

"Right," Percy said, still wondering who Ella was, but if she was friend;y like Tyson and Naruto didn't seem to have a problem with her, then neither did he. "Our ship is..." The Queen Anne's Revenge was a very long way away. The shortest route was across the chasm, and they had just destroyed the only bridge. The only other possibility was through the sheep.

"Tyson," Percy called, "can you lead the flock as far away as possible?"

"The sheep want food.

"I know! They want people food! Just lead them away from the path. Give us time to get to the beach. Then join us there."

Tyson looked doubtful, but he whistled. "Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!" He jogged off into the meadow, the sheep in pursuit.

"Keep the Fleece around you," I told Annabeth. "Just in case you're not fully healed yet. Can you stand?"

She tried, but her face turned pale again. "Ohh. Not fully healed."

Clarisse dropped next to her and felt her chest, which made Annabeth gasp.

"Ribs broken," Clarisse said. "They're mending, but definitely broken."

"How can you tell?" Percy and Naruto asked at the same time.

Clarisse glared at them. "Because I've broken a few! I'll have to carry her."

Before Percy could argue, Clarisse picked up Annabeth like a sack of flour and lugged her down to the beach. The boys followed shortly afterward. Naruto made his way nex to the war girl and said, "You know, that was not the answer I was expecting, but I should shouldn't be surprised."

"What were you expecting?" The girl asked softly, which caught Annabeth's attention and smirked.

"Well, I thought you gained some medical knowledge." Naruto said with a shrug, thinking about Tsunade and inwardly shivered. They were kind of similar…

As soon as they got to the edge of the water, Percy concentrated on the Queen Anne's Revenge. He willed it to raise anchor and come to him. After a few anxious minutes, they saw the ship rounding the tip of the island.

Naruto's eye widened before he had stars in his eyes. "YOU GOT A PIRATE SHIP! AWESOME!"

"Incoming!" Tyson yelled. He was bounding down the path to join us, the sheep about fifty yards behind, bleating in frustration as their Cyclops friend ran away without feeding them.

"Not awesome!" Naruto freaked at seeing the killer sheep.

"They probably won't follow us into the water," Percy told the others. "All we have to do is swim or the ship."

"With Annabeth like this?" Clarisse protested.

"We can do it," Percy insisted. He was starting to feel confident again. He was back in his home turf—the sea. "Once we get to the ship, we're home free."

They almost made it, too.

They were just wading past the entrance to the ravine, when the group heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus, scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward them with a boulder in each hand.

"Ah...craptastic. He's back." Naruto deadpanned.

XXX

**Well there you all go. Another cliffy! Sorry it took so long but…shit happens. Only a few more chapters for this and I will take another break from this series.**

**Hopefully I can get out a chapter for Uzumaki's Wrath this weekend.**

**Review.**


	14. The Not So Great Escape

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 14**

"Whoa!" Naruto yelled as he dodged yet another rock thrown by the giant dumbass. He just wished that Polyphemus would have impaled himself on a sharp rock right about now. Well…it was either that or Naruto get impaled and he didn't want that.

"You'd think he'd run out of rocks," Percy muttered.

"Swim for it!" Grover said.

He and Clarisse plunged into the surf. Annabeth hung on to Clarisse's neck and tried to paddle with one hand, the wet Fleece weighing her down. Naruto was in the surf as well before he smacked his head. "Damn! I forgot I could walk on water!" He said as he helped himself up and then saw that Clarisse was having trouble because Annabeth and the Fleece. "Here, let me help!" He said as he took Annabeth's form off of Clarisse, who looked a little relieved but pissed at that. "Hey, I was doing just fine!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Eh…just to be safe." He was holding the blond girl bridal style and said with a smirk, "Man, Annabeth, you got to cut back on the Fleece. Geez you are heavy."

Annabeth knew he was just poking fun despite the situation, so she smirked and weakly punched the male blond, "Oh shut up you idiot."

Surprisingly the monster's attention was not on the Fleece.

"You, young Cyclops!" Polyphemus roared. "Traitor to your kind!"

Tyson froze and Naruto narrowed his eyes at the big idiot.

"Don't listen to him!" Percy pleaded. "Come on."

He pulled Tyson's arm, but he might as well have been pulling a mountain. Tyson turned and faced the older Cyclops. "I am not a traitor."

"You serve mortals!" Polyphemus shouted. "Thieving humans!"

"Yeah…you're not that much better." Naruto deadpanned.

Polythemus growled as he threw two boulders, one at Tyson and the other at Naruto. Tyson batted his aside easily while Naruto jumped up and kicked the rock full force back at the big idiot, hitting him in the forehead, making the group cringe a bit.

"GOOOOAAAAALLL!" Naruto shouted like he was at a soccer game while Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Come one ninja boy, we have to get out of here, quit messing with him!" She yelled.

"Argh!" polythemus roared. "Stay out of this!"

"Not a traitor," Tyson said. "And you are not my kind."

"Death or victory!" Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his foot was still wounded. He immediately stumbled and fell on his already hurt face. That would've been funny, except he started to get up again, spitting salt water and growling.

"Percy!" Clarisse yelled. "Come on!"

"Heh, he sure has a good amount of tenacity!" Naruto chuckled as he ran.

"Like you?" The group around him deadpanned.

Naruto almost tripped at that. "Yeah….but for him that is bad for us!"

They were almost to the ship with the Fleece. If Percy could just keep the monster distracted a little longer ...

"Go," Tyson told them. "I will hold Big Ugly."

"No! He'll kill you." Percy had already lost Tyson once. He wasn't going to lose him again. "We'll fight him together."

"Together," Tyson agreed.

"Good luck with that!" Naruto yelled half playfully. He had Annabeth still in his arms, so it would be hard to fight with them. Percy could handle himself…right?

Percy drew his sword.

Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm. He chucked another boulder. Percy dove to one side, but he still would've been squashed if Tyson's fist hadn't blasted the rock to rubble.

Percy willed the sea to rise. A twenty-foot wave surged up, lifting him on its crest. He rode toward the Cyclops and kicked him in the eye, leaping over his head as the water blasted him onto the beach.

"Destroy you!" Polyphemus spluttered. "Fleece stealer!"

"You stole the Fleece!" Percy yelled. "You've been using it to lure satyrs to their deaths!"

"So? Satyrs good eating!"

Naruto had a deadpanned look at his face when he heard that. "Yeah? So are alligators."

Clarisse growled at that. "STOP BEING A SMART ASS AND RUN!"

"The Fleece should be used to heal! It belongs to the children of the gods!" Percy shouted back at the big idiot.

"I am a child of the gods!" Polyphemus swiped at Percy, but the water boy sidestepped. "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!" He was blinking hard now, like he could barely see, and Percy realized he was targeting by the sound of his voice.

"Poseidon won't curse me," Percy said, backing up as the Cyclops grabbed air. "I'm his son, too. He won't play favorites."

Polyphemus roared. He ripped an olive tree out of the side of the cliff and smashed it where

Percy hadd been standing a moment before. "Humans not the same! Nasty, tricky, lying!"

By now, Grover was helping Naruto get Annabeth on the pirate ship, where Clarisse was frantically waving at the two on the beach to hurry up.

Tyson worked his way around Polyphemus, trying to get behind him.

"Young one!" the older Cyclops called. "Where are you? Help me!"

Tyson stopped.

"You weren't raised right!" Polyphemus wailed, shaking his olive tree club. "Poor orphaned brother! Help me!"

No one moved. No sound but the ocean and my own heartbeat. Then Tyson stepped forward, raising his hands defensively. "Don't fight, Cyclops brother. Put down the—"

Polyphemus spun toward his voice.

"Tyson!" Percy shouted.

The tree struck him with such force it would've flattened Percy into a Percy pizza with extra olives. Tyson flew backward, plowing a trench in the sand. Polyphemus charged after him, but Percy shouted, "No!" and lunged as far as he could with Riptide. he'd hoped to sting Polyphemus in the back of the thigh, but he managed to leap a little bit higher.

Thankfully, Ella, who had been helping Naruto's side, came over and scratched the big idiot's back, wounding him further. "Ella thin you need to be punished for hurting Ella's friend!" She yelled

"Blaaaaah!" Polyphemus bleated just like his sheep, and swung at them with his tree.

Percy dove, but still got raked across the back by a dozen jagged branches. He was bleeding and bruised and exhausted. The guinea pig inside him wanted to bolt. But Percy swallowed down his fear. Circe would not get to him a second time.

Ella managed to dodged out of the way in time but got scratched on her leg. She was not a combat expert…she was more book smarts! So she flew back over to Naruto's side to wait this out.

Polyphemus swung the tree again, but this time Percy was ready. He grabbed a branch as it passed, ignoring the pain in his hands as he was jerked skyward, and let the Cyclops lift him into the air. At the top of the arc Percy let go and fell straight against the giant's face—landing with both feet on his already damaged eye.

Polyphemus yowled in pain. Tyson tackled him, pulling him down. Percy landed next to them— sword in hand, within striking distance of the monster's heart. But he locked eyes with Tyson, and he knew he couldn't do it. It just wasn't right.

"Let him go," Percy told Tyson. "Run."

With one last mighty effort, Tyson pushed the cursing older Cyclops away, and they ran for the surf.

"I will smash you.'" Polyphemus yelled, doubling over in pain. His enormous hands cupped over his eye.

Tyson and Percy plunged into the waves.

"Where are you?" Polyphemus screamed. He picked up his tree club and threw it into the water. It splashed off to their right.

Naruto watched all this with bated breath. He knew if her encouraged Percy, then the monster would use his hearing to target them and destroy their escape and he didn't want. _Come on you two. I know you can do it._

Percy summoned up another current to carry them, and they started gaining speed. He was beginning to think they would make it to the ship, especially with his blond best friend smiling like that, when Clarisse shouted from the deck, "Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!" Naruto groaned as he slapped his head.

Shut up, Percy wanted to yell while Naruto, while too late, had put a hand on the girl's mouth, confusing her with a blush on her cheeks.

"Rarrr!" Polyphemus picked up a boulder. He threw it toward the sound of Clarisse's voice, but it fell short, narrowly missing Tyson and Percy.

"Yeah, yeah!" Clarisse taunted after she ripped Naruto's hand offer mouth. "You throw like a wimp! Teach you to try marrying me, you idiot!"

"Clarisse!" Percy yelled, unable to stand it. "Shut up!"

"Hey. "Naruto said softly, the guy is mostly blind and now he is using sound to track us." Naruto whispered…although now it was useless. Why?

Because it was too late for any of the damage to be reversed. Polyphemus threw another boulder, and this time Percy watched helplessly as it sailed over his head and crashed through the hull of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

And then another. Naruto saw that it was coming right for them. "JUMP!" He yelled as he grabbed both Annabeth and Clarisse on either side of him and jumped. Grover not far behind him. Ella flew high into the air, as to not be caught and waited for her friends to surface because there was not much she could do since she was a flyer.

You wouldn't believe how fast a ship can sink. The Queen Anne's Revenge creaked and groaned and listed forward like it was going down a playground slide.

Percy cursed, willing the sea to push us faster, but the ship's masts were already going under.

"Dive!" He told Tyson. And as another rock sailed over their heads, they plunged underwater.

XXX

Percy'sfriends were sinking fast, trying to swim, without luck, in the bubbly trail of the ship's wreckage. Especially with Naruto trying to carry both girls up to the top, but the Fleece was also adding to the problem.

Not many people realize that when a ship goes down, it acts like a sinkhole, pulling down everything around it. Clarisse was a strong swimmer, but even she wasn't making any progress. Naruto was the same, but he did not have the knowledge like Percy did and because of them, he jumped to close to the wreckage. Grover frantically kicked with his hooves. Annabeth was hanging on to the Fleece, which flashed in the water like a wave of new pennies.

Percy swam toward them, knowing that he might not have the strength to pull his friends out. Worse, pieces of timber were swirling around them; none of the water boy's power with water would help if he got whacked on the head by a beam.

_We need help_, Percy thought as he looked at Naruto's struggling form….trying to get his friends above him.

_Yes_. Tyson's voice, loud and clear in Percy's head.

Percy looked over at him, startled. He had heard Nereids and other water spirits speak to him underwater before, but it never occurred to Percy ... Tyson was a son of Poseidon. They could communicate with each other.

_Rainbow_, Tyson said.

Percy nodded, then closed his eyes and concentrated, adding his voice to Tyson's: _RAINBOW!_

_We need you!_

Immediately, shapes shimmered in the darkness below—three horses with fish tails, galloping upward faster than dolphins. Rainbow and his friends glanced in their direction and seemed to read their thoughts. They whisked into the wreckage, and a moment later burst upward in a cloud of bubbles—Grover, Naruto, Annabeth, and Clarisse each clinging to the neck of a hippocampus.

Rainbow, the largest, had Tyson to grab hold of his mane. His friend who bore Annabeth did the same for Percy. Grover grabbed one while Naruto grabbed Clarisse and then grabbed the last one.

They broke the surface of the water and raced away from Polyphemus's island. Behind them, they could hear the Cyclops roaring in triumph, "I did it! I finally sank Nobody and Somebody!"

Naruto, being the smart ass that he was today, asked, "You think I should rain on his parade?"

"NO!" The others growled while Naruto just chuckled light heartedly.

"Alright." Naruto said, hoping they were not too pissed at him.

"Ella is just glad you are all ok." She said as she flew above them, easily keeping pace with them. Naruto nodded and smiled. They may have gotten another monster on their side, but this proved that not all monsters were bad.

They skimmed across the sea as the island shrank to a dot and then disappeared.

"Did it," Annabeth muttered in exhaustion. "We ..."

She slumped against the neck of the hippocampus and instantly fell asleep.

Naruto smiled at that. "Hell yeah we did. Mission accomplished." He said.

Clarisse also smiled. "Yeah…and I am glad you came along as my partner." She paused as she looked Annabeth, with the Fleece draped over her back and them Percy passed out on her back. "Even though I don't like them, I am glad we ran into them."

"Yeah….we all did pretty well as a team." Naruto said with a big smile at what he saw with Percy and Annabeth. He glanced over at Grover and smirked. The satyr smiled but just rolled his eyes and slumped over as well.

Clarisse, who was stilling in front on her blond crush on the sea horse…thing, smiled softly and decided to mess with him for a second. She wiggled around to better seat herself on the animal. That made her rub her butt on Naruto's crotch some. However, that backfired some when she felt that something poking her butt and she blushed hard.

Naruto was not sure if she did that on purpose or not, but he had to admit that it felt good. When he saw the smile and blush on her cheeks, he knew his answer. He looked at her seriously before a smile spread on his face. She really like him, he knew that now. Maybe….maybe if did could not help Thalia….he would give her a chance.

Deciding to mess her on this, he leaned in and bent them both forward, making Clarisse blush harder as she felt more of him poking her. Naruto smirked at that before he said to the sea horse, "Think it is best we head to Miami from here." The sea horse nodded and made strange noises to its friends who nodded in return.

Clarisse, decided now was the time to rest and she too passed out on the animal. Naruto was feeling tired too, so he wrapped his arms around the girl and fell asleep. The sea horses looked at them and saw that they would occasionally move and groan softly. They felt sorry for their friend.

The two friends, however, would wake up in a compromising position….

XXX

**Sorry, I could not resist on that last part. I have been watching some Ecchi anime and my mind is out there…**

**Review!**


	15. We are on our way!

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 15**

**Now, you all I are prolly wondering what Clarisse looks like after all that last chapter. I think in my first story, I mentioned that she was a lot hotter than in cannon, so to make this all better for you, think Movie Annabeth. She is hot enough.**

Percy, wake up."

Salt water was splashed his face as Annabeth shook his shoulder. That water traveled on to wake Clarisse, who upon waking blushed hard. Why? Well they may have been asleep, but their bodies…weren't. She felt a wet spot on her butt….and on her crotch area. She was freaking out a bit on how they would explain that to the others if they saw, but she was inwardly cheering that she could get Naruto off. _Ha! Take that tree girl!_

Deciding that she needed to wake the idiot blond up, she elbowed him in the ribs. That got the job done, but it had a unforeseen consequence. Yes, Naruto woke up, but it propelled him back a bit that he was about to fall off the sea horse thing. So he grabbed on to the closest thing….which happened to be Clarisse's breasts. She didn't yell out, so that others didn't freak out, but she let out a low pleasure filled growl. She liked that feeling. In a low voice, she said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were making a few moves on me, what would tree girl say?"

"S-sorry." Naruto freaked as he lost balance and fell off, taking her with them. Luckily, the sea horse things stopped moving as this was as far as they would go to the coast. The surfaces and saw a land mass in the distance.

In the distance, the sun was setting behind a city skyline. They could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, store-fronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships.

"Miami, I think," Annabeth said. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

"I asked them to bring us this far for us when you two fell asleep." Naruto stated as he swam up to them.

"This is as far as they'll take us," Percy said. "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."

"Fine with me." Naruto said as he did a back stroke.

Of course, they were not very psyched about that, but they thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. One of them just shied away from Naruto and Clarisse, but the others didn't think of it. Tyson cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things he'd salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island, and said good-bye. Ella patted him on the shoulder before flying back up above them.

Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. The waves pushed them forward, and in no time they were back in the mortal world. They wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. If anybody noticed them—seven kids dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster—they didn't let on.

Now that they were back among mortals, Tyson's single eye had blurred from the Mist. Grover had put on his cap and sneakers. Ella looked like a normal red headed girl with a brown shirt, tan khakis, and some flip flops. Even the Fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red and- gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket.

Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.

"Great." Naruto sighed. "This is like at the casino in Vegas. Time just seems to hate us and speed up."

"Thalia's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. "We have to get the Fleece back tonight."

"Don't say that." Naruto growled. He refused to this that his friend was dead!

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered—"

Naruto sighed at that. He knew he should have stopped that, but she just needed to vent, however, why she had to blame Percy was beyond him.

"Percy's fault?" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest—"

"Stop it!" Percy said.

Clarisse put her head in hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration. Percy sighed as he remembered that this was not his quest, he just wanted to do things himself and save the camp. Of course, that reminded him of what Ares said to Clarisse down in the boiler room of her old boat. Ares could not careless about that camp, but if someone made him look bad…

"Clarisse," Percy said, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

She looked up. Percy thought she was going to tell me off, but instead she took a deep breath and recited her prophecy with Naruto:

_You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,_

_You shall find what you seek and make it your own,_

_But despair for your life entombed within stone,_

_And fail without friends, to fly home._

_Know this, the journey will not be easy,_

_The Son of Death must fight his enemy._

_The lost son of Echidna will be revealed._

"Ouch," Grover mumbled.

"Wait, who did you have to fight, Naruto?" Annabeth asked, knowing what the Son of Death comment was about.

Naruto cringed as he revealed Kusanagi to them. "I had to fight an old enemy of mine, Orochimaru."

"WHAT?" Percy shouted while the others had wide eyes….except for Clarisse of course. Ella and Tyson just had confused looks on their faces. "How are you alive? You said he was a sennin level ninja!"

"Yeah, apparently, being in this world weakened him a bit." Naruto said, while also saying that he would tell them about the fight later. Right now, they had to figure out the rest of the prophecy.

Percy then snapped his fingers as he reviewed the prophecy in his head again. "Wait a minute. I've got it." he searched my pockets for money, and found nothing but a golden drachma. "Does anybody have any cash?"

Annabeth and Grover shook their heads morosely. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed. Naruto thought for a moment and looked for his bank card….only to see it had broken to pieces. "Eh…I have money in my bank account, but…"

"Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly. "Like ... green paper?"

Percy looked at him. "Yeah."

"Like the kind in duffel bags?"

"Yeah, but we lost those bags days a-g-g—" Percy stuttered to a halt as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the Ziploc bag full of cash that Hermes had included in their supplies.

"Dang." Naruto chuckled, "Did you guy rob a bank or something?" Of he was joking, but Annabeth smacked the back of his head anyway.

"Tyson!" Percy said, ignoring Naruto comment. "How did you—"

"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," he said. "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry." He handed Percy the cash. Fives and tens, at least three hundred dollars.

Percy ran to the curb and grabbed a taxi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers.

"Clarisse, Naruto," Percy yelled. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece."

They all looked at him in shock as the water boy took the Fleece letter jacket from Annabeth, tucked the cash into its pocket, and put it in Clarisse's arms.

Clarisse said, "You'd let me—"

"It's your quest," I said. "We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, I can't travel by air. Zeus would blast me into a million pieces. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone with Naruto. You have to get the Fleece back safely."

Percy could see her mind working—suspicious at first, wondering what trick the water boy was playing, and then finally deciding he meant what he said.

She jumped in the cab. "You can count on me. I won't fail."

"Not failing would be good." Percy said before looked to Naruto who had a smile on his face as he patted his shoulder.

"You did good man, you sure you can make it back on your own?" The blond son of death asked.

Percy chuckled. "Hey, I did it before, I am sure I can do it again."

"Alright, but just be careful for me, alright? Oh and make sure Annabeth doesn't get hurt again, will you?"

"You can count on me." Percy said as the two shook hands.

"See you at camp." Naruto said before he hopped in the cab with Clarisse.

The cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaust. The Fleece was on its way. As they were riding in the cab, Naruto sighed. "I just hope that can take care of him."

"Who?" Clarisse asked.

"Luke."

"What! He is back there?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"We would have been late getting the Fleece back and I am sure Percy can handle that creep on his own. Besides, he needs to learn that am not always going to be around to protect him."

"You better hope you're right about that or a lot of people are going to be mad at you." Clarisse sighed.

"I know." Naruto groaned and he saw in the rear view mirror that Percy and the other were captured, but they were already too far away to help.

XXX

"Percy," Annabeth said, "that was so—"

"Generous?" Grover offered.

"Insane," Annabeth corrected. "You're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?"

"It's her quest," Percy said. "She deserves a chance."

"Percy is nice," Tyson said.

"Yep! He's good in my books!" Ella said happily.

"Percy is too nice," Annabeth grumbled, but he couldn't help thinking that maybe, just maybe, she was a little impressed. He'd surprised her, anyway. And that wasn't easy to do.

"Come on," Percy told his friends. "Let's find another way home." That's when he turned and found a sword's point at his throat.

"Hey, cuz," said Luke. "Welcome back to the States." His bear-man thugs appeared on either of side of them. One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Tyson and Ella, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke. Ella simply glared, waiting for anything.

"Percy," Luke said calmly, "Tell your giant and harpy to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friends' heads together."

Oreius grinned and raised Annabeth and Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming.

"What do you want, Luke?" Percy growled.

Luke smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face. He gestured toward the end of the dock, and Percy noticed what should've been obvious. The biggest boat in port was the Princess Andromeda. "Why, Percy," Luke said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course."

XXX

The bear twins herded Percy's group aboard the Princess Andromeda. They threw them down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. A dozen of Luke's assorted goons—snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor—had gathered to watch them get some "hospitality."

"And so, the Fleece," Luke mused. "Where is it?" He looked the small group over, prodding Percy's shirt with the tip of his sword, poking Grover's jeans.

"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"

"Sorry, old friend." Luke smiled. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."

"Blaa-ha-ha!" Grover protested. "Some old friend!"

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Luke's voice was dangerously calm. "Where—is—the— Fleece?"

"Not here," Percy said. He probably shouldn't have told him anything, but it felt good to throw the truth in his face. "We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up."

Luke's eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have ..." His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. "Clarisse?"

Percy nodded.

"You trusted ... you gave ..."

"Yeah. And Naruto is with her."

"Agrius!" Luke shouted in anger, but he did have a pale face whaen her heard Naruto's name.

The bear giant flinched. "Y-yes?"

"Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast.'"

"But, boss—"

"Do it!" Luke screamed. "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!"

The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy. Maybe they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before.

Percy started thinking ... If he could use Luke's anger, get him to talk so everybody could hear how crazy his plans were ...

He looked at the swimming pool, at the fountains spraying mist into the air, making a rainbow in the sunset. And suddenly the water boy had an idea.

"You've been toying with us all along," Percy said. "You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

Luke scowled. "Of course, you idiot! And you and that idiot blond from the ninja world have messed everything up!"

"Traitor!" Percy dug his last gold drachma out of his pocket and threw it at Luke. As he expected, Luke dodged it easily.

The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-colored water. Percy hoped his prayer would be accepted in silence. He thought with all his heart: _O goddess, accept my offering_.

"You tricked all of us!" Percy yelled at Luke. "Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but he needed everyone's attention on him, so Percy uncapped Riptide.

Luke just sneered. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."

"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?"

"I did, of course," he snarled. "I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus. And you know, I am so glad that you sent Naruto with Clarisse. Otherwise, if he actually heard me, I would not be alive right now." Hey, Luke was nuts, but even he didn't think he could beat the blond ninja in a fair fight.

"Chiron had nothing to do with it?" Percy asked while smirking at what Luke said about Naruto. He knew that was true as well.

"Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts." Luke laughed.

"You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?" Percy glared at his old friend. This was starting to sound like Naruto's story between him and that Sasuke character.

Luke raised his sword. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the

Fleece ... once I was done with it."

That made Percy hesitate. Why would Luke let him take the Fleece? He must've been lying. But he couldn't afford to lose Luke's attention. "You were going to heal Kronos," Percy said.

"Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little."

"And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up—all to help Kronos destroy the gods."

Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"

"Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you."

"What audience?"

Then his eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back.

Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus,

Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching them.

"Well," said Dionysus dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment." Then he smirked. "My, I can see that Naruto's prankster side has gotten to you. Clever."

"Mr. D, you heard him," Percy said, inwardly smiling."You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault."

Mr. D sighed. "I suppose not."

"The Iris-message could be a trick," Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.

"I fear not," Mr. D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games."

Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn't bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world. "I got it!" he cackled.

"We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus," Mr. D announced.

Tantalus looked stunned. "What? But—"

"You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed. "Oh and I really think that Kushina is going to have fn with you now that you know her son."

"No! But—Nooooooooooo!" Tantalus shouted in horror. He could not believe that the blond brat was Kushina's son! He was screwed even worse now!

As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. But it was too late. He disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. The campers exploded into cheering.

Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.

Percy was feeling pretty good about himself, until Luke turned and gave him a murderous look.

"Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced."

Perc wasn't sure what he meant, but the water boy didn't have time to think about it. One of Luke's men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around the group, the brass tips of their spears bristling.

Luke smiled at Percy. "You'll never leave this boat alive."

XXX

As Naruto and Clarisse were boarding the plane, his female companion stopped. "Wait a second. Won't Zeus shoot us down since you a son of the underworld?"

Naruto chuckled. "He won't if he knows what's good for his daughter. He should know i am doing this for her."

Clarisse smile sadly at that as the boarded. That was right. He was doing this quest with her…to help Tree Girl.

Naruto, not noticing her expression, saw someone he recognized. "Hey, I'll be over in a second." He said to his female companion. She looked to where he was going, only to see someone in a suit. She shrugged and sat down.

Naruto smiled and said, "Well, nice to see you again…Aether." This was Aether, the old upper sky god. Of course, the two had to sit down real quick because the plane was taking off.

Aether smiled. "Yes it is good to see you again, little brother. Now Zeus was ready to blast you out of the sky, but it seemed that your words reached him. Of course, I am here just in case."

"Good to know." Naruto said with a smile as he then caught sight of his partner. This quest made him think…a lot. He knew he liked Thalia, but at this point, it was impossible for them to be truly together, something she said to him once. Then there was Clarisse, who he was good friends with and…she really liked him. He…just didn't know what to do!

Aether looked at the scene and sighed. "I may not be able help you with this decision, but my brother can."

"Oh?" Naruto asked. "Which one?"

"That would be me." A voice said from the isle. Naruto looked to see a shaggy black haired man in casual clothes, but his face was serious. "I am Epiphron, Spirit of prudence, shrewdness, thoughtfulness, carefulness and sagacity."

"So…what's your advice?" Naruto asked.

"Well." The man said uncomfortably. "To be honest, I am not an expert in the love department, but I guess all I can say is that you must do what your heart tells you to do." As he said that, he .put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and boy glowed for a moment before they disappeared.

Naruto sighed before he got up and sat next to his partner in crime. She looked nervous. 'What's up?"

"I…don't like flying." Clarisse said weakly.

Naruto decided to do a leap of faith and put his hand on her shaking hand. That seemed to calm her down as she gave off a smile. "Hey…Clarisse."

"Yes?"

"Do you really like me like that?" Naruto asked.

Clarisse had a blush on her face and smile. "Yeah. You treat me like a normal person. You accept that I am an awesome fighter and a girl. You're my best friend."

Naruto smiled at that with a blush of his own. "I…just don't know what to do. I like you…a lot, but I also like Thalia. I just don't know how to free her."

Clarisse smiled. "You are just a good person….a little confusing for a ninja, but a good guy none the less. We'll figure it out later." She said before she leaned over and kissed him on the lips in passion before she broke it and lean her head on his shoulder. She then fell asleep for the rest of the trip.

XXX

**And there we go. I hope you all liked that. **

**Review please**


	16. The Party Ponies Invade!

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 16**

**I think I'll start this off by going with Percy's group first. Should explain a few things if some of you have never actually read the books. It is basically the chapter from the book.  
**

"One on one," Percy challenged Luke. "What are you afraid of?"

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.

Before he could say anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse. It was the first pure-black pegasus Percy had ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus mare bucked and whinnied. He could understand her thoughts. She was calling Agrius and Luke some names so bad Chiron would've washed her muzzle out with saddle soap.

"Sir!" Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "Your steed is ready!"

Luke kept his eyes on Percy.

"I told you last summer, Percy," he said. "You can't bait me in a fight."

"And you keep avoiding one," Percy noticed. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

Luke glanced at his men, and he saw the son of Poseidon had trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought Percy, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse and Naruto. For Percy's part, the best he could hope for was to distract Luke, giving his friends a chance to escape. If anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, Annabeth could. On the down-side, Percy knew how good Luke was at sword-fighting.

"I'll kill you quickly," he decided, and raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than Percy's sword. Its blade glinted with an evil gray-and-gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. Percy could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. He didn't know how the blade had been made, but he sensed a tragedy. Someone had died in the process. Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.

He grinned at Percy wickedly.

"Luke," Annabeth said, "at least give him a shield."

"Sorry, Annabeth," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."

The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defense and versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill. Percy thought back to Chiron, who'd told him to stay at camp no matter what, and learn to fight. Now he was going to pay for not listening to him.

Luke lunged and almost killed Percy on the first try. His sword went under the younger boy's arm, slashing through his shirt and grazing his ribs.

Percy jumped back, and then counterattacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed Percy's blade away with his shield.

"My, Percy," Luke chided. "You're out of practice."

He came at Percy again with a swipe to the head. The younger boy parried, returned with a thrust. Luke sidestepped easily.

The cut on his ribs stung. Percy's heart was racing. When Luke lunged again, he jumped backward into the swimming pool and felt a surge of strength. Percy spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke's face.

The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering and blinded. But before Percy could strike,

Luke rolled aside and was on his feet again.

Percy attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn't even faze him. Luke dropped to a crouch and jabbed at his legs. Suddenly Percy's thigh was on fire, with a pain so intense he collapsed. His jeans were ripped above the knee. Percy was hurt. He didn't know how badly. Luke hacked downward and the younger boy rolled behind a deck chair. Percy tried to stand, but his leg wouldn't take the weight.

"Perrrrrcy!" Grover bleated.

The water boy rolled again as Luke's sword slashed the deck chair in half, metal pipes and all.

Percy clawed toward the swimming pool, trying hard not to black out. He'd never make it. Luke knew it, too. He advanced slowly, smiling. The edge of his sword was tinged with red.

"One thing I want you to watch before you die, Percy." He looked at the bearman Oreius, who was still holding Annabeth, Ella, and Grover by the necks. "You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appetite."

"He-he! He-he!" The bearman lifted Percy's friends and bared his teeth.

That's when all Hades broke loose.

Whish!

A red-feathered arrow sprouted from Oreius's mouth. With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crumpled to the deck.

"Brother!" Agrius wailed. He let the pegasus's reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head and fly away free over Miami Bay.

For a split second, Luke's guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins' bodies dissolve into smoke.

Then there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal. A dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

"Ponies!" Tyson cried with delight.

"This…is weird." Ella stated as she observed the scene.

Percy's mind had trouble processing everything he saw. Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him. There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses. Some wore brightly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER. Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior and was waving a large orange Styrofoam hand making a big Number I. Another was bare-chested and painted entirely green. A third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side.

They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that for a moment even Luke was stunned. The son of Poseidon couldn't tell whether they had come to celebrate or attack.

Apparently both. As Luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custom made with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Luke in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.

His warriors scattered. Percy couldn't blame them. Facing the hooves of a rearing stallion is scary enough, but when it's a centaur, armed with a bow and whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.

"Come get some!" yelled one of the party ponies.

They let loose with their paintball guns. A wave of blue and yellow exploded against Luke's warriors, blinding them and splattering them from head to toe. They tried to run, only to slip and fall.

Chiron galloped toward Annabeth, Ella, and Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, and deposited them on his back. Ella just flew into the air, with Chiron giving her a wary look, but she just smiled as Grover explained that she was on their side.

Percy tried to get up, but his wounded leg still felt like it was on fire.

Luke was crawling out of the pool. "Attack, you fools." he ordered his troops. Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed.

Percy knew any second they would be swamped by Luke's reinforcements. Already, his warriors were getting over their surprise, coming at the centaurs with swords and spears drawn.

Tyson slapped half a dozen of them aside, knocking them over the guardrail into Miami Bay. But more warriors were coming up the stairs. Luckily, Ella had his back and was using her talon's to flip them of the ship.

"Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron said.

"You won't get away with this, horse man!" Luke shouted. He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, and sat down hard in a deck chair.

A palomino centaur hoisted Percy onto his back. "Dude, get your big friend and his girlfriend!"

"Tyson! Ella!" Percy yelled. "Come on!"

Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot and jogged after them with Ella landing on his shoulder. He jumped on the centaur's back.

"Dude!" the centaur groaned, almost buckling under Tyson and Ella combined weight. "Do the words 'low-carb diet' mean any-thing to you?"

Luke's warriors were organizing themselves into a phalanx. But by the time they were ready to advance; the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck and fearlessly jumped the guardrail, as if it were a steeplechase and not ten stories above the ground. Percy was sure they were going to die. They plummeted toward the docks, but the centaurs hit the asphalt with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping and yelling taunts at the Princess Andromeda as we raced into the streets of downtown Miami.

XXX

Percy had no idea what the Miamians thought as they galloped by.

Streets and buildings began to blur as the centaurs picked up speed. It felt as if space were compacting—as if each centaur step took them miles and miles. In no time, they'd left the city behind. They raced through marshy fields of high grass and ponds and stunted trees.

Finally, they found themselves in a trailer park at the edge of a lake. The trailers were all horse trailers, tricked out with televisions and mini-refrigerators and mosquito netting. They were in a centaur camp.

"Dude!" said a party pony as he unloaded his gear. "Did you see that bear guy? He was all like: 'Whoa, I have an arrow in my mouth!'"

The centaur with the googly-eye glasses laughed. "That was awesome! Head slam!"

The two centaurs charged at each other full-force and knocked heads, then went staggering off in different directions with crazy grins on their faces.

Chiron sighed. He set Annabeth and Grover down on a picnic blanket next to Percy. "I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together. They don't have the brain cells to spare."

"Chiron," Percy said, still stunned by the fact that he was here. "You saved us."

He gave the son of Poseidon a dry smile. "Well now, I couldn't very well let you die, especially since you've cleared my name."

"But how did you know where we were?" Annabeth asked.

"Advanced planning, my dear. I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami."

"Gee, thanks," Grover mumbled.

"No, no," Chiron said. "I didn't mean ... Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr. The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy's Iris-message and trace the signal. Iris and I have been friends for centuries. I asked her to alert me to any important communications in this area. It then took no effort to convince my cousins to ride to your aid. As you see, centaurs can travel quite fast when we wish to. Distance for us is not the same as distance for humans."

Percy looked over at the campfire, where three party ponies were teaching Tyson to operate a paintball gun. Ella was hovering over her crush worriedly. He hoped they knew what they were getting into.

"So what now?" Percy asked Chiron. "We just let Luke sail away? He's got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway."

Chiron knelt, carefully folding his front legs underneath him. He opened the medicine pouch on his belt and started to treat Percy wounds. "I'm afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw. We didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luke was not organized enough to pursue us. Nobody won."

"But we got the Fleece!" Annabeth said. "Clarisse and Naruto are on their way back to camp with it right now."

Chiron nodded, though he still looked uneasy. "You are all true heroes. And as soon as we get

Percy fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you."

"You're coming, too?" Percy asked.

"Oh yes, Percy. I'll be relieved to get home. My brethren here simply do not appreciate Dean Martin's music. Besides, I must have some words with Mr. D. There's the rest of the summer to plan. So much training to do. And I want to see ... I'm curious about the Fleece."

Percy didn't know exactly what he meant, but it made him worried about what Luke had said: _I was going to let you take the Fleece ... once I was done with it._

Had he just been lying? Percy'd learned with Kronos there was usually a plan within a plan. The titan lord wasn't called the Crooked One for nothing. He had ways of getting people to do what he wanted without them ever realizing his true intentions.

Over by the campfire, Tyson let loose with his paintball gun. A blue projectile splattered against one of the centaurs, hurling him backward into the lake. The centaur came up grinning, covered in swamp muck and blue paint, and gave Tyson two thumbs up.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "perhaps you and Grover would go supervise Tyson, that Ella girl, and my cousins before they, ah, teach each other too many bad habits?"

Annabeth met his eyes. Some kind of understanding passed between them.

"Sure, Chiron," Annabeth said. "Come on, goat boy."

"But I don't like paintball."

"Yes, you do." She hoisted Grover to his hooves and led him off toward the campfire.

Chiron finished bandaging Percy's leg. "Percy, I had a talk with Annabeth on the way here. A talk about the prophecy."

_Uh-oh_, the water boy thought.

"It wasn't her fault," Percy said. "I made her tell me."

His eyes flickered with irritation. Percy was sure Chiron was going to chew him out, but then his look turned to weariness. "I suppose I could not expect to keep it secret forever."

"So am I the one in the prophecy?"

Chiron tucked his bandages back into his pouch. "I wish I knew, Percy. You're not yet

sixteen. We also thought it was Naruto, but he plain refused to be it. For now we must simply train you as best we can, and leave the future to the Fates. "

The Fates. Percy hadn't thought about those old ladies in a long time, but as soon as Chiron mentioned them, something clicked.

"That's what it meant," Percy said.

Chiron frowned. "That's what what meant?"

"Last summer. The omen from the Fates, when me and Naruto saw them snip somebody's life string. I thought it meant I was going to die right away, but it's worse than that. It's got something to do with your prophecy. The death they foretold—it's going to happen when I'm sixteen….or when Naruto is sixteen."

Chiron's tail whisked nervously in the grass. "My boy, you can't be sure of that. We don't even know if the prophecy is about you or Naruto."

"But there isn't any other half-blood child of the Big Three!"

"None that we know of." Chiron said, _ except for Thalia, but I doubt she is coming out of that tree anytime soon._

"And Kronos is rising. He's going to destroy Mount Olympus!" Percy freaked.

"He will try," Chiron agreed. "And Western Civilization along with it, if we don't stop him.

But we will stop him. You will not be alone in that fight."

Percy knew he was trying to make him feel better, but he remembered what Annabeth had told him. It would come down to one hero. One decision that would save or destroy the West. And he felt sure the Fates had been giving him some kind of warning about that. Something terrible was going to happen, either to him or to somebody he was close to. He just hoped nothing bad like that would happen and….he kind of wished that Naruto was the hero, not him.

"I'm just a kid, Chiron," Percy said miserably. "What good is one lousy hero against something like Kronos?"

Chiron managed a smile. '"What good is one lousy hero'? Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain said something like that to me once, just before he single-handedly changed the course of your Civil War."

He pulled an arrow from his quiver and turned the razor-sharp tip so it glinted in the firelight. "Celestial bronze, Percy. An immortal weapon. What would happen if you shot this at a human?"

"Nothing," Percy said. "It would pass right through."

"That's right," he said. "Humans don't exist on the same level as the immortals. They can't even be hurt by our weapons. But you, Percy—you are part god, part human. You live in both worlds. You can be harmed by both, and you can affect both. That's what makes heroes so special. You carry the hopes of humanity into the realm of the eternal. Monsters never die. They are reborn from the chaos and barbarism that is always bubbling underneath civilization, the very stuff that makes Kronos stronger. They must be defeated again and again, kept at bay. Heroes embody that struggle. You fight the battles humanity must win, every generation, in order to stay human. Do you understand?"

"I ... I don't know."

"You must try, Percy. Because whether or not you are the child of the prophecy, Kronos thinks you might be. Naruto just refused to be it as well. And after today, Kronos will finally despair of turning you to his side. That is the only reason he hasn't killed you yet, you know. As soon as he's sure he can't use you, he will destroy you."

"You talk like you know him."

Chiron pursed his lips. "I do know him."

Percy stared at him. He sometimes forgot just how old Chiron was. "Is that why Mr. D blamed you when the tree was poisoned? Why you said some people don't trust you?"

"Indeed."

"But, Chiron ... I mean, come on! Why would they think you'd ever betray the camp for Kronos?"

Chiron's eyes were deep brown, full of thousands of years of sadness. "Percy, remember your training. Remember your study of mythology. What is my connection to the titan lord?"

Percy tried to think, but he'd always gotten his mythology mixed up. Even now, when it was so real, so important to his own life, he had trouble keeping all the names and facts straight. He shook his head. Naruto would be able to answer it."You, uh, owe Kronos a favor or something? He spared your life?"

"Percy," Chiron said, his voice impossibly soft. "The titan Kronos is my father."

XXX

**Next chapter should be better.**


	17. An Epic Race!

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 17**

Duo of Naruto and Clarisse made it camp without much trouble. Since they didn't bring any carry-ons, they quickly got out of the airport, hailed a cab, and hightailed back to Camp Half-Blood in very little time. Another plus was that Naruto finally got to use some of the money that he had.

As soon as they got there, they noticed a few things different about the camp. The Camp had a rough two weeks without them. The arts and crafts cabin had burned to the ground from an attack by a Draco Aionius, which was a huge lizard that blew things up with its breath. Not something you wanted as a pet. The Big House's rooms were overflowing with wounded. The kids in the Apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid.

That was the scene Naruto and Clarisse came to see when they entered. "Oh joy, your back and not a moment too soon." Mr. D said borely.

Naruto smiled, but noticed something different. "Hey, where is the child hater?"

Mr. D gave him a dead panned look that said he hated children as well. "If you're talking about Tantalus, we fired him after we found out that Chiron was framed by Luke, who poisoned the tree."

"Great. I had a feeling it was him, but I didn't have the proof." Naruto said with a sigh.

"So, this is the Fleece? I expected something…more."

"Hey, we busted our asses to get this!" Clarisse responded. "I lost my vessel and nearly got married off to Polythemus!"

The room got quiet at that before everyone burst out laughing. Even though bad things happen, they need to laugh once in a while and that was the perfect opportunity. Hell, even Mr. D laughed. Clarisse's face grew red with anger.

Seeing this, Naruto changed the subject. "So…where is Chiron?"

"He should be here soon with Percy and the others." Mr. D waved him off until the ground started to shake. "Ugh, why do I get that feeling that that is him now?"

Those that could, made their way outside to see a large horde of centaurs heading their way. "Great…he's brought the whole family." He said as all the other had looks of disbelief on their faces. Why? Well, you would too when you first see the Party Ponies.

The horde of Party Ponies crowded the camp and were eager to meet Mr. D because being the Wine God, they figured he'd throw some wild parties. Unfortunately, they were disappointed because he was in no mood for it at the moment.

After a few moments, the whole camp had crowded around Thalia's tree. Naruto decided that it since this was Clarisse's quest; he would let her do the honors. Clarisse nodded as she walked up to the tree and put a hand on it. Somehow, she felt that Thalia could understand her feeling for Naruto, but with everyone there, she would wait until later to talk with the tree girl.

The moment Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece over the lowest bough, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from gray to liquid silver. A cool breeze rustled in the branches and rippled through the grass, all the way into the valley. Everything came into sharper focus— the glow of the fireflies down in the woods, the smell of the straw-berry fields, the sound of the waves on the beach.

Gradually, the needles on the pine tree started turning from brown to green.

Everybody cheered. It was happening slowly, but there could be no doubt—the Fleece's magic was seeping into the tree, filling it with new power and expelling the poison. Naruto smiled happily in return at all this. He was able to help keep her alive, now all he need to do was free her from the tree.

Chiron ordered a twenty-four/seven guard duty on the hilltop, at least until he could find an appropriate monster to protect the Fleece. He said he'd place an ad in Olympus Weekly right away.

In the meantime, Clarisse and Naruto were carried on their cabin mates' shoulders down to the amphitheater, where they were honored with a laurel wreath and a lot of celebrating around the campfire. Ares children had really taken a liking to Naruto. Plus, the children of Aphrodite all had smirks on their faces, wondering if Naruto and Clarisse's alone time brought about something between them. Although, Silena stayed close to her cabinmate, he was like a brother to her after all and she was kind of protective of him. But for some reason, when she heard the girl's talking she felt a little jealous…

Nobody gave Annabeth or Percy a second look. It was as if they'd never left. In a way, the water boy guess that was the best thank-you anyone could give them, because if they admitted the duo had snuck out of camp to do the quest, they'd have to expel the two. And really, Percy didn't want any more attention. It felt good to be just one of the campers for once.

Later that night, as they were roasting s'mores and listening to the Stoll brothers tell the camp a ghost story about an evil king who was eaten alive by demonic breakfast pastries, Clarisse shoved Percy from behind and whispered in his ear, "Just because you were cool one time, Jackson, don't think you're off the hook with Ares. I'm still waiting for the right opportunity to pulverize you."

Percy gave her a grudging smile.

"What?" she demanded.

"Nothing," Percy said. "Just good to be home."

Naruto chuckled from his spot before she came over to him and asked, "What's so funny?"

The blond smiled. "At least give the water boy a chance."

"That's…insane." Clarisse deadpanned before she noticed his thoughtful look. "What's one your mind?"

"Well, Mr. D said that Tantalus returned to the underworld. I just wonder how my mom is treating him." Naruto said while Clarisse gained a thoughtful look on her face.

XXX

The next morning, after the party ponies headed back to Florida, Chiron made a surprise announcement: the chariot races would go ahead as scheduled. Everyone figured they were history now that Tantalus was gone, but completing them did feel like the right thing to do, especially now that Chiron was back and the camp was safe.

Tyson wasn't too keen on the idea of getting back in a chariot after their first experience, but he was happy to let Percy team up with Annabeth. He would drive, Annabeth would defend, and Tyson would act as their pit crew. While Percy worked with the horses, Tyson fixed up Athena's chariot and added a whole bunch of special modifications.

The duo spent the next two days training like crazy. Annabeth and Percy agreed that if they won, the prize of no chores for the rest of the month would be split between our two cabins. Since Athena had more campers, they would get most of the time off, which was fine by Percy. He didn't care about the prize. He just wanted to win.

Naruto was once again with Clarisse, making the finishing touches of their enhanced chariot. Of course it still looked like the scary as hell death chariot from before, but it was more aerodynamic. Plus, if they ran into trouble that made them swerve suddenly, they could just…bounce over it. Oh yeah, they also put in a few traps…especially if someone got behind them.

The train now and again, but since they won already, they decided they if they won, great, but it was no big deal to them if they lost. Ok, Naruto didn't care if they lost, Clarisse did and wanted to beat Percy and rub it in his face that she and Naruto won again.

The night before the race, Clarisse was on guard duty. She was leaning against the tree and sighed. "I feel really stupid about what I am going to do, but…whatever." She passed as she lean her against the trunk and said aloud, "Listen, I heard that you can hear what goes on out here and I am sure you can hear my voice Thalia. My name is Clarisse, a daughter of Ares."

Deep within the tree, Thalia, who felt better now, heard the girl and knew who she was. She was a friend of Naruto's and figured that the girl like him from the way he talked about their interactions.

"I know you make him happy and he wants to make you happy by freeing you of that tree curse, but it could take years and he could drive himself mad. I….I don't want that. He is just too nice and I really like him. He treats me like a normal girl instead of the rough and tumble bitch I make myself out to be. Sure, I am like that and he knows it and doesn't care. I could grow to love him." By this time, she felt she was on the verge of tears. "He loves you and I can understand that…somewhat, but I love him too! You…if he can't free you soon, please, let him go!"

Thalia sighed and she listened to the war girl pour her feelings out to a…tree, but even she guess that Clarisse need to tell someone about her feelings. She herself felt that she could love Naruto as well, but she didn't want Naruto to drive himself insane as well. Eventually she would have to tell Naruto to let go….but it would be hard for both of them. However, if she was ever free from this tree, she figured she would have to share Naruto with her. The more she thought about it, the more she liked it and knew it could get complicated. But…there were some things that they could do together. This required more thought and right now….that is all she could do.

XXX

While that was going on, Naruto was laying on the roof of the Aphrodite cabin, looking at the moon and stars. He came up here to think. Wondered if he should let Percy win or win himself so the Hades, Aphrodite, and Ares cabin didn't have to do any chores for the rest of the month.

He then thought about what he should do until school starts up. Sure, he could go to school if he wanted to, but he really didn't and he blamed the academy back in Konoha for that. Maybe he would IM the Underworld later. Besides, he also wanted to see what Kushina was doing to Tantalus.

Then there was his situation with Thalia and Clarisse. He figured he would have to choose between the two when the time came, but it was going to be hard to do so. He cared for both of them and their personalities were great. He just could not figure why they liked him.

"Something on your mind?" a female voice asked.

Naruto looked to the side and saw Silena on ladder, leaning on the side of the cabin with a smirk on her face. The raven haired girl climbed on top of the roof and laid down next to him. "Yeah, I actually got a much of stuff on my mind, like the chariot race tomorrow."

Silena was quiet for a time, deciding one what to say. "Hey, what if I joined you in the chariot race tomorrow."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. "Really? Come on. I know you too well for that." He said with a smirk. "You have never really been a fighter, well…except when that one camper dissed love."

Silena giggled. Sure she was bit peeved that he didn't think she was a fighter…and he was right, so she was also touched that he thought for her safety. "Yeah, he got what was coming to him. But I guess you are right, I am not that great a fighter and I would like to win. So I guess Clarisse is your best bet."

"Don't worry, I make sure we'll win so we won't have any chores for the month." Naruto said before he opened one eye in a teasing manner. "Of course with you being the neat freak of the cabin, you'll still be doing work."

Silena punched his arm with a smile and small pout. "You know, just for that, I will make you help me."

Naruto laughed, which made the girl laugh as well. "You know, don't take this the wrong way, but the moon light really lights you up."

Silena blush and giggled a bit, "Oh, is blondie hitting on me?" She asked. Even thought they were technically relative….the whole camp was…they would flirt for fun, but they thought nothing of it…well Naruto didn't. Silena gained a crush on the blond.

"Something like that." Naruto chuckled.

Silena smiled and looks apprehensive for a moment and then asked, "Hey ninja boy, can you teach me anything? Like that Sexy Jutsu you created."

Naruto blinked stupidly at that. "You want to learn how to be a ninja?"

"No exactly. I want to learn how to fight better, you know, just in case. I don't want to be useless. Plus, with your fighting style, I could do a few things. Plus, I can use my powers of altering my appearance like that henge jutsu you have….that was sort of why I asked about your sexy jutsu. I could base my style on that. Boys will be….down in a second!" Silena replied.

Naruto chuckled. "I see what I can do."

"Thanks." Silena said before she leaned over and kissed him on the check more getting up and sauntering away.

Naruto blinked stupidly at that as he rubbed his cheek. Out of the counter of his eyes, he could have sworn that she was swinging her hips suggestively and that grin she had on her face as she climbed down the ladder didn't help. _Just what is going on?_ He thought to himself. He came up here to think, but now he had more to think about!

"My, you are popular with the ladies." Another voice said from behind him. Naruto got up to see a man behind him. He was a middle-aged guy in a postal carrier outfit and he had his arms crossed with a smirk on his face. He was slim, with curly black hair under his white pith helmet, and he had a mailbag slung over his shoulder.

Naruto blinked. "I think I can guess who you are…Hermes, right?" The man nodded with a smile. "So what, am I supposed to buy stamps from you?"

Hermes chuckled. "Now that I have not heard yet…surprisingly. No, I am here to deliver a message to you. I just deliver one to Percy and since you were close, I thought I would come here next."

"Ah." Naruto said as he was handed a pad to sign. The stylus was a bit weird because of the twin snake s on it, but he thought nothing of it.

_Well, at least he didn't drop us._ A male voice said in his mind.

"Did I hear someone or I am just going crazy with all this thinking?" Naruto asked.

"Oh no, that is just George and Martha, the twin snakes on the pen." Hermes replied.

"Oh…" Naruto said as he signed the pad.

_Don't mind us to much Naruto._ A female voice said. _Although, I would like to say that Percy holds you in high regard._

"Well, we are friends, so I help him whenever he needs it." Naruto replied while thinking he had gone mad because he was talking to a couple of snakes on a pen…

"Helping friends is always a good thing." Hermes replied as he handed Naruto a black envelope and then disappeared.

The blond opened the black piece of paper, while idly wonder what it was made up….and hoping it wasn't from the souls. Only a few words were on the piece of paper.

Brace Yourself.

The hell did that mean. Oh well, he will deal with whatever it was in time.

XXX

As soon as Naruto and Clarisse parked their chariot onto the race track, Clarisse decided that they had a little time to goof off….or in her case, get Naruto to be with her. However, as she turned around, her eye twitched as Silena was wishing Naruto luck. After a hug from the girl, Clarisse dragged Naruto over to the tree line. "Naruto, there is something I have to say."

"Ok…what is it?" the blond asked, wonder what it could be.

"I know you like Thalia and I like you, which you already know, but….for the time being, I want to be with you." She said, throwing Naruto way off guard.

"What are you saying?" Naruto asked with a blush on his face.

"Idiot, I want to be your girlfriend, and if Thalia does get out of that tree, I'll share. Come on blondie, don't most guy want a few girls? What do you say?"

Naruto sighed. Somehow, he figured this would happen and now that Clarisse brought it up, he was trapped. "I don't mind, but I'll have to talk to Thalia about it later. Yeah, I think could make it work."

"Good." Clarisse replied before she leaned in and smashed her lips to his. _Besides, if she can hear me, she probably already knows. I am also glad Silena gave me some advice before we left camp._

Soon the conch sounded and they quickly made their way back to the chariot, Percy not far behind because he had to talk to his brother, Tyson, about something.

"You ready to lose again Jackson?" Clarisse stated with a cocky smirk.

"In your dreams!" Percy shot back.

"Percy, I am not letting you win, just so you know." Naruto replied with a bored look. "You will have to pull out all the stops to win against us."

Percy looked off guard at that before he remembered what the blond said before. He had to fight his own battles and if that meant fighting Naruto, then he would try his best….and he was determined to win! The two boys smirked at each other, a silent conversation going between them as they stared each other in the eyes before they went to their respective chariots.

Chiron was at the starting line, ready to blow the conch. Once he did, all hell broke loose as the chariot rumbled down the track.

The horses knew what to do. They shot down the track so fast they would've fallen out if their arms hadn't been wrapped in the leather reins. Annabeth held on tight to the rail of their chariot. The wheels glided beautifully. they took the first turn a full chariot-length ahead of Clarisse and Naruto, who was busy trying to fight off a javelin attack from the Stoll brothers in the Hermes chariot. Naruto was having a blast as he drove. He wasn't even paying attention to the Stroll brothers. His main concern was Percy, who was ahead of them.

"We've got 'em!" Percy yelled, but he spoke too soon.

"Incoming!" Annabeth yelled. She threw her first javelin in grappling hook mode, knocking away a lead-weighted net that would have entangled the both of them. Apollo's chariot had come up on their flank. Before Annabeth could rearm her-self, the Apollo warrior threw a javelin into their right wheel. The javelin shattered, but not before snapping some of their spokes. Their chariot lurched and wobbled. Percy was sure the wheel would collapse altogether, but they somehow kept going. Percy urged the horses to keep up the speed. They were now neck and neck with Apollo. Hephaestus was coming up close behind.

Naruto growled as he was now behind and it was because of his pranking buddies. "Ok, enough of this!" He growled as he took Kusanagi and extended the blade to hit the Stroll Brothers' nearest wheel. It sliced through the spokes of the wheel and then it shattered. The Hermes Chariot spunning out of control and crashed off course, effectively talking them out of the race. He knew they would get back at him for this later, but he was prepared.

Naruto looked back at the race ahead of him to see that Percy and Annabeth had just gotten rid of the Apollo chariot and the Hephaestus chariot was gaining on them. For him, he would tread lightly and see if Percy could take them out for him and Clarisse. That way it just be the two teams. And that was just fine with him as he made his skeleton horses speed up to them as they swerved around the down Apollo Chariot.

Beckendorf grinned as he pressed a button on his command console. Steel cables shot out of the front of his mechanical horses, wrapping around Percy and Annabeth's back rail. Their chariot shuddered as Beckendorf's winch system started working—pulling them backward while Beckendorf pulled himself forward.

_Nice thinking_ Naruto thought, impressed.

Annabeth cursed and drew her knife. She hacked at the cables but they were too thick.

"Can't cut them.'" she yelled.

The Hephaestus chariot was now dangerously close, their horses about to trample Percy's chariot underfoot.

"Switch with me!" Percy told Annabeth. "Take the reins!"

"But—"

"Trust me!"

"What are they doing?" Clarisse asked.

Naruto smirked and said, "Something we do, teamwork." The girl just nodded her head and got ready to strike once Naruto made it to them.

Annabeth pulled herself to the front and grabbed the reins. Percy turned, trying hard to keep his footing, and uncapped Riptide.

He slashed down and the cables snapped like kite string. They lurched forward, but Beckendorf's driver just swung his chariot to their left and pulled up next to them. Beckendorf drew his sword. He slashed at Annabeth, and Percy parried the blade away.

The Poseidon/Athena Team was coming up on the last turn. They'd never make it if they continued like this. Percy needed to disable the Hephaestus chariot and get it out of the way, but he had to protect Annabeth, too. Just because Beckendorf was a nice guy didn't mean he wouldn't send them both to the infirmary if they let our guard down. Then there was Naruto's team, who was hanging back and just watching!

"See ya, Percy!" Beckendorf yelled. "Here's a little parting gift!" He threw a leather pouch into their chariot. It stuck to the floor immediately and began billowing green smoke.

"Greek fire!" Annabeth yelled.

Percy cursed. He'd heard stories about what Greek fire could do. He figured they had maybe ten seconds before it exploded.

"Get rid of it!" Annabeth shouted, but Percy couldn't. Hephaestus's chariot was still alongside, waiting until the last second to make sure their little present blew up. Beckendorf was keeping Percy busy with his sword. If he let his guard down long enough to deal with the Greek fire, Annabeth would get sliced and they's crash anyway. Percy tried to kick the leather pouch away with his foot, but he couldn't. It was stuck fast.

Then Percy remembered the watch that Tyson had made for him.

Percy didn't know how it could help, but he managed to punch the stopwatch button. Instantly, the watch changed. It expanded, the metal rim spiraling outward like an old-fashioned camera shutter, a leather strap wrapping around his forearm until he was holding a round war shield four feet wide, the inside soft leather, the outside polished bronze engraved with designs he didn't have time to examine.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that and he was impressed yet again. He'd have to ask Tyson to make him one. Seriously, that could come in handy! A shield that could tell time.

All Percy knew: Tyson had come through. He raised the shield, and Beckendorf's sword clanged against it. His blade shattered.

"What?" Charles shouted. "How—" He didn't have time to say more because Percy knocked him in the chest with his new shield and sent him flying out of his chariot, tumbling in the dirt.

Percy was about use Riptide to slash at the driver when Annabeth yelled, "Percy!"

The Greek fire was shooting sparks. I shoved the tip of my sword under the leather pouch and flipped it up like a spatula. The firebomb dislodged and flew into the Hephaestus chariot at the driver's feet. He yelped.

In a split second the driver made the right choice: he dove out of the chariot, which careened away and exploded in green flames. The metal horses seemed to short-circuit. They turned and dragged the burning wreckage back toward Clarisse and Naruto.

Naruto smirked at the new trap ahead of them and yelled to the undead horses, "Jump!"

"What are you nuts?" Clarisse freaked. "They can't make us jump as well!"

"Just trust me!" Naruto said back with a smiled and he stomped his foot on the floor of the chariot just as the horses jumped over the burning wreckage and a spring jutted out of the bottom of the chariot, bumping them in the air, keeping them safe from the fire.

Percy could not believe his eyes. Naruto had maneuver around that death trap and now they were neck and neck! Clarisse smirked as she swung her sword down on Percy, who block with his Riptide and sparks flew as their blades grinded against each other.

Naruto knew he could win now, but one glace at their chariots, he saw that their chariots were connected. He chuckled to himself, he could easily remedy this by using a wind jutsu to propel them forward, but the finish line was very close…so he decided to make this a tie. This way they both won. That way he could lounge about with Percy all he wanted.

They hit a curve and they were sure they were all going to tip over, but thanks to Percy and Clarisse's deadlocked sword positions, that didn't happen. It kept them all in place as they all went past the finish line together.

Chiron chuckled as he knew what exactly went on in that race. Naruto really was a contradictory of his heritage of being a child of Hades. So he declared the race and tie and the two teams won. The spectators all mobbed them.

As Naruto and Clarisse were being carried off by the Aphrodite and Ares cabins respectively, Naruto head Annabeth said they didn't do it alone, that Percy's brother helped them. Naruto smiled at that. Percy finally admitted he had a brother and he was confident about it. Naruto saw the boy look at him and he flashed him a smile and a thumbs up. Percy just smiled as well, especially when Annabeth kissed him on the cheek, making his blond friend laugh as Percy and Annebeth were taken away by the Athena cabin.

XXX

**Ok, the next chapter will be the last for this story believe it or not. As for Silena, I am debating on whether to put her in the harem. She of course would be in place of Bianca. Even if they are half siblings, it is weird for me. Anyway, if i do add her, i will not make her Luke's spy. It will be some other random person.  
**

**Next in the line up? Well, here is the list:**

**Grim Reaper of Iwa(A Naruto in Iwa story)**

**Naruto/Star Wars crossover.**

**Foxfire Part 2**

**Also, I put some new pictures on my profile, especially for this series.**

**REVIEW and VOTE!**


	18. The Fleece's is Strong!

**Welcome to the Sea of Monsters**

**Chapter 18**

**Here it is, the last chapter of Part 2. Enjoy.  
**

Things were back to normal for them at camp. With four cabins not doing chores, others had to pick up the slack, but they still had to help guard the tree. Naruto and Clarisse spent a lot of their time making out, but of course when Silena walked in on them, she gave a half smile before leaving the room.

Clarisse, being the girl's friend, figured that she must be a little jealous and that got her thinking, but she would have to Naruto and Thalia about later. Still, if she was going to share with tree girl, why not with her best friend. Of course, Naruto was oblivious to all of this.

Then Grover announced that he'd be able to spend the rest of the summer with us before resuming his quest for Pan. His bosses at the Council of Cloven Elders were so impressed that he hadn't gotten himself killed and had cleared the way for future searchers, that they granted him a two-month fur-lough and a new set of reed pipes. The only bad news: Grover insisted on playing those pipes all afternoon long, and his musical skills hadn't improved much. He played "YMCA," and the strawberry plants started going crazy, wrapping around his friends' feet like they were trying to strangle them. Naruto chuckled while hanging upside down thinking that he couldn't blame them.

However, Clarisse didn't like being hung upside down…so she threatened to kill Grover when it was over. Yeah…that would make anyone do it longer to prolong death. So, the blood rushed to her head and she didn't feel like pounding him.

Later, he told his friends more about the Empathy link. "Hey, I can dissolve the link now that we are face to face."

"Nah, I am good." Naruto replied.

"Same here, I think I'll keep it." Percy said with a smile.

"But, if I get in trouble again, you'll be in danger, you two! You could die!" Grover freaked.

"If you get in trouble again, we want to know about it. And I'll come help you again, G-man. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Yeah, just because you're not here, doesn't mean we don't care. Keep the link up." Naruto said with a smirk.

In the end he agreed not to break the link. He went back to playing "YMCA" for the strawberry plants. They didn't need an empathy link with the plants to know how they felt about it.

XXX

"Hey Percy, can I use your fountain? I think it is time I IMed my family down in the underworld." Naruto asked.

Percy shrugged and his friend into the cabin and to the fountain that sprayed out water. "I am sure you know what to do. I have to get to Archery Class."

Naruto nodded and flipped the coin into the mist just as Percy left. "Hades, Underworld." The Mist went dark before it showed a snoozing Hades/Minato on his throne. Naruto smirked darkly at that, his prankster side coming out. He took out a blow horn and pressed the button, creating a loud noise that woke the King of the Dead with a start.

"I AM NOT ASLEEP KUSHINA!" Hades cried out.

"No dad that was me. Apparently mom has already done that to you." Naruto deadpanned, a little annoyed that his mom had already done that to him.

"Yes…and my ears are still ringing!" Hades cried anime tears.

Naruto sweat dropped at that before he said, "Hey, I'd thought I would say hi. I mean, I have not talked to you in a while."

Hades straightened up at and put on a serious look. Sometimes, Naruto wondered if his father was bi-polar or something. "Yes it is good to hear from you and I have a few things I would like to ask you. I think it would be good for you to come down here for the summer to train. Your Mothers wish to see you."

"Mothers?" Naruto asked, a little confused.

Hades smiled. "Kushina and Persephone. Ugh, those two get along too well, but it makes them happy, so I am not complaining…heh. They wish to see you."

Naruto smiled, "I think'll like that. Seems I got four moms, Kushina, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Nyx."

Hades just smiled. "Just means you have a big family. Now, when you are done with that motorcycle, come down here and we will begin your training, I have a feeling that things will be changing soon."

"About that, you and Uncle Poseidon sent letters to me and Percy, what is up?"

Hades had on another serious look. "You will know when it appears shortly. Although, your search will be over by then." That just confused the blond even more, but he shrugged it off. Suddently there was a scream on Hades's end and the mist panned ove rot a scared out of his mind Tantalus running to Hades. "HELP ME! SHE IS FUCKING NUTS!"

Hades put on an annoyed look. Tantalus then saw Naruto and cried out. "YOU! PLEASE HELP ME! I'll take you pranks on me any day then take that crazy red's toture!"

Naruto's eye twitched. "That red is my mother." At that Tantalus paled considerably.

"Fuck…" He whined.

"THERE YOU ARE CHILD EATER!" An angry yet female voice raged and then stomped on the man's face. She then looked towards the mist and her eyes softened with tears. "My baby."

"Hey mom, I see you are putting him in his place." Naruto said with a smile with tears in his eyes.

"Did he ask you to come home for a while?" Kushina asked softly.

"Yeah, I am going to get my bike built and get down there this summer."

"Oh good! Persephone will be happy that will be another down here to keep her company. I will await your arrivel my son, now I have to talk to the Furies about Mr. Child Eater's new punishments. I think Being overweight and rock filled pies are not enough." She turned an evil smirk to Tantalus who looked scared out of his mind. "Now let me remind you of the pecking order you shit. It you, the dirt, the worms inside the dirt, my stool, Hades, and then ME!" She dragged a crying and screaming Tanalus by a leg and laughing like a madwoman.

There was nothing but silence for a little while before Hades spoke. "She scares me sometimes."

"Well…she seems to like your job." Naruto said with a giant sweat drop.

"I suppose someone has to." Hades sighed before he smiled at Naruto. "I eagerly await your return."

"Thanks dad." Naruto said before he cut off the message.

XXX

Naruto sighed as he, Annabeth, and Grover were taken aside by Tyson. "Whatcha need big guy?"

"Don't tell this to Percy, I will myself." Tyson started. "Father offered me an internship to work down in the Cyclops Forges under the sea."

"I take it that you accepted." Naruto replied.

"Yes."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and said, "Well, if this is what you want, then do it. Kind of sad that a member of our group is leaving, but I'll be gone this summer as well."

"What?" Annabeth asked a bit, shocked. "Where are you going?"

"Back to the Underworld. Dad invited me for some training." Naruto replied.

"Well, good luck with that." Grover said with a freaked out expression. He and Annabeth didn't like that place one bit.

"I am guessing that Tyson already told you." Chiron said as he walked up to them. "Though I have to say that I am a bit surprised that you Naruto are going to be training in the Underworld."

"Yeah, I thought it would be good bonding time. And this why I can help mom torture Tantalus." Naruto said a little too happily, making the other edge away from him a bit.

"Eh…come on, we got to get sea weed braing for dinner." Annabeth decided to say as they walked off.

XXX

A storm raged that night, but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did. Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. They were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside their magical borders.

Still, Percy's dreams were restless. he heard Kronos taunting him and Naruto from the depths of Tartarus: _Polyphemus sits blindly in his cave, young heroes, believing he has won a great victory. Are you any less deluded?_ The titan's cold laughter filled the darkness. Percy knew Naruto had these dreams as well, but he was better and hiding them as they didn't affect him that much.

Then his dream changed. Percy was following Tyson to the bottom of the sea, into the court of Poseidon. It was a radiant hall filled with blue light, the floor cobbled with pearls. And there, on a throne of coral, sat his father, dressed like a simple fisherman in khaki shorts and a sunbleached T-shirt. He looked up into the man's tan weathered face, his deep green eyes, and he spoke two words: Brace yourself.

Percy woke with a start.

There was a banging on the door. Grover flew inside without waiting for permission. "Percy!" he stammered. "Annabeth ... on the hill ... she ..."

The look in his eyes told me something was terribly wrong. Annabeth had been on guard duty that night, protecting the Fleece. If something had happened—

Percy ripped off the covers, his blood like ice water in his veins. He threw on some clothes while

Grover tried to make a complete sentence, but he was too stunned, too out of breath. "She'slying there ... just lying there ...Naruto won't believe it."

Percy ran outside and raced across the central yard, Grover right behind him and then Naruto jumped down next to them, falling in step. He had an odd look on his face as the blond observed Grover's frantic face. Something was up. Dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. Word was spreading. Something huge had happened. A few campers were already making their way toward the hill, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armor and pajamas.

Percy heard the clop of horse hooves, and Chiron galloped up behind them, looking grim.

"Is it true?" he asked Grover.

Grover could only nod, his expression dazed.

Naruto looked to Percy and they both shrugged. They weren't told much, so they didn't have a lot to go on. Percy tried to ask what was going on, but Chiron grabbed the two boys by the arms and effortlessly lifted them onto his back. Together they thundered up Half-Blood Hill, where a small crowd had started to gather.

Percy expected to see the Fleece missing from the pine tree, but it was still there, glittering in the first light of dawn. The storm had broken and the sky was bloodred. Naruto just quirked an eyebrow. Nothing was making sense.

"Curse the titan lord," Chiron said. "He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy." That got the blond's attention. Were his siblings here? No, there would be more of a commotion and Grover won't be this shook up.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"The Fleece," Chiron said. "The Fleece did its work too well."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that as he remember what his father had told him before his eyes widen. "No freaking way." He said as he got off of Chiron and sprinted ahead of them, much to Percy's confusion.

They speed to the tree, everyone moving out of the way. There at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious. Another girl in Greek armor was kneeling next to her.

"It healed the tree," Chiron said, his voice ragged. "And poison was not the only thing it purged."

Percy looked on, thinking that it was Annabeth that had been hurt, but Naruto put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Percy looked at him to see the blond's eyes were soft with caring and disbelief. That confused the water boy more, so he looked back to the girl sand say that she was not Annabeth, the girl in greek armor was Annabeth, so who was the girl and why was Naruto acting like this?

When Annabeth saw them, she ran to Chiron. "It... she ... just suddenly there ..."

Her eyes were streaming with tears, but Percy still didn't understand. He was too freaked out to make sense of it all. Everyone was acting so emotional! Percy leaped off Chiron's back and ran toward the unconscious girl. Chiron said: "Boys, wait!" But Naruto ran alongside the water boy, not heading Chiron's warning.

They looked at the girl to see she had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth—a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands they had never heard of.

Naruto just smiled gently when Clarisse came to see what was up and she gasped and Naruto nodded.

"It's true," Grover said, panting from his run up the hill. "I can't believe ..."

While Percy was yelling at the other campers to get so Half-blood medicine, Naruto watched as the girl's eye opened. Her irises were startlingly blue—electric blue.

"Hi, I am Percy." Percy said, noticing that she was awake as well. "Who are you?"

"I am Thalia, Daughter of Zeus." She said, making the poor boy widen his eyes in shock as he fell on his ass.

Naruto smiled brightly and head out a hand for her to grab so she could get up. "Welcome back to the land of the living…Thalia."

"It is good to be back…Naruto." The girl blushed a bit at the real skin contact before she flung herself at the blond in a hug before she planted a kiss on his lips. Most campers that knew of Naruto and Clarisse's relationship, eyed the girl nervously, but to their shock, they saw that she was smirking! The war girl walked up to them and helped the girl to the infirmary, while everyone starting complete shock. Today had be the most surprising yet for them.

XXX

A few days later, Thalia was standing by her old tree. It was odd for her to actually see her old prison. Chiron, Grover, and Annabeth had all been overjoyed to see her again and stuck with her when she was not with Naruto. Also, there was Percy. He was just like Naruto had described, still she thought he was a good guy. Still the reality of Luke going evil had been hard for her, but again, Naruto helped her through that.

Speaking of the blond, she smirked at the thought of him. She was one of his girlfriends and to be honest, she didn't mind. It was basically her idea for a little harem, no matter what Clarisse said. So it was her, Clarisse, and thanks to her, Silena. Hell, Naruto had been oblivious her feelings as well! Still, it was weird to be in a harem, but she would get used to it.

Currently, she was waiting for whatever Naruto wanted. He had told her to meet her at this spot. Suddenly, there a shadow above her, so she looked up and saw that Naruto was there on what looked to be on a flying carpet made of darkness. "Wow, that is a bit weird, but cool at the same time. So what is it that you wanted?"

Naruto smiled gently said, "I wanted to take you on a ride on my new jutsu."

Thalia looked a little nervous. "I am…afraid of heights."

"Come on, do you trust me?" He asked as he held out a hand.

"What?" Thalia asked, getting a feeling that this was familiar.

"Do you trust me?" Naruto repeated.

Thalia smiled. "Yes." She said as she took his hand and they took off with Thalia holding on to him tightly because of her fear, but soon she smiled and just held onto him and like she expected….mostly thanks to Grover telling her, he began to sing.

"I can show you the world, shinning, shimmering, splendid. Tell me princess, now when did you last let you heart decided." He sang as they flew across the farmlands and then into the nightlife of New York City. "I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder. Over, sideways and under, on a magic carpet ride."

They then flew up high into the sky, into the clouds, passing the moon. "A whole new world, a new fantastic point of view. No one to tell us no or where to go or say we're only dreaming."

Thalia got into it and started singing as well and Naruto smiled, thinking she had a wonderful voice. "A whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew. But when I'm way up here, it's crystal clear, that now I'm in a whole new world with you.

"Now I'm in a whole new world with you." Naruto sang along as he dissolved the carpet and threw her up in the air. The darkness reformed into his wings and he flew up just in time as a lightning bolt struck the spot he was in. He then caught her bridal style with ease before the darkness went back to the carpet. Thalia looked a little frizzled but she had a wild look in her eyes that said that she was enjoying this.

"Unbelievable sights, indescribable feeling." Thalia sang with a big smile. "Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling, through an endless diamond sky. A whole new world!" The carpet spun around them and caught them before diving back down to the city below.

"Don't you dare close your eyes." Naruto sang gently as Thalia got a little scared by that.

"A hundred thousand things to see!" she sang as they flew along a river that went through a park that was teeming with life.

"Hold your breath - it gets better." Naruto sang.

"I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far. I can't go back to where I used to be." Thalia sang in a care free manner as they waved at a fisherman in the nearby port. The man had a dropped his jaw at the scene as he was one of the few people that could see through the mist and he paid for his inattention because a big fish caught his line and he went in the water.

They then went back into the countryside as stallions ran in the countryside and they both started to sing. "A whole new world, every turn a surprise. With new horizons to pursue, every moment red-letter. I'll chase them anywhere, there's time to spare. Let me share this whole new world with you."

They made their way back into camp and floated above the lake. Thalia leaned against his shoulder and they both sang the last part. "A whole new world, that's where we'll be. A thrilling chase, a wondrous place. For you and me." They floated along the water in peace with a few water nymphs sighing at the touching scene.

XXX

A few days later, a Grover was passing by Thalia's old tree, he saw a sight that was unique in its own right. Naruto was leaning against the tree with his back to it with Thalia in his lap. Clarisse and Silena were leaning on his sides. They were all asleep and had smiles on their faces.

XXX

**Alright, tell me what you all think of this last chapter for part 2. I have a song for Zoe, but I need one for Silena. I have a poll for my next story because like last time, I am taking a break on this series. It is on my profile.**

**Review please.**


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